LIBRARY 


1 


f. 


GREAT  NATIONS 

WALES 


WALES 

HER  ORIGINS  STRUGGLES  AND 

LATER  HISTORY  INSTITUTIONS 

AND  MANNERS 


BY 
GI  LBERT    STO  N  E 

Sometime  Scholar  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College 
Cambridge    B.A.  LL.B. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION     BY    THE 

RIGHT    HON.    ELLIS   J.  GRIFFITH 

K.C.    M.P. 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


TO 
ELIZABETH   STONE 


Printed  at  tht  Ball**tyn»  Prtts  London  England 


INTRODUCTION 

ON  no  historical  subject  is  the  modern  mind,  saturated 
as  it  is  with  a  superficial  philosophy  of  Imperialism, 
so  apt  to  go  astray,  and  with  dire  consequences,  as 
on  the  question  of  nationality.  Sometimes  the  term  '  nation  ' 
is  used  even  by  statesmen  and  philosophers  with  a  mere 
territorial  or  geographical  significance,  and  made  to  include 
such  widely  divergent  and  utterly  unrelated  phenomena  as, 
for  instance,  the  Tyrolese  and  the  Germans  ;  at  other  times 
it  is  used  synonymously  with  the  much  more  modern  and 
artificial  term  '  state.'  The  reason  for  this  confusion  is 
obvious.  A  nation,  like  most  of  the  simple  and  elemental 
things  of  our  experience,  does  not  readily  admit  of  definition, 
although  the  phenomenon  itself  is  perfectly  easy  to  recognize. 
When  we  take  into  consideration  the  nations  of  the  West  as 
we  know  them  to-day,  in  a  more  or  less  complex  state  of 
development,  we  find  it  almost  impossible  to  discover  anything 
in  the  nature  of  a  common  denominator,  a  deciding  char- 
acteristic for  all  of  them.  A  common  racial  origin,  a  distinct 
language,  political  independence,  peculiar  and  definite  customs 
and  traditions,  a  homeland  with  an  unbroken  and  independent 
history,  religious  affinity,  military  unity,  have  all  of  them 
been  suggested  as  distinguishing  characteristics,  but  on  appli- 
cation to  concrete  instances  all  of  them  fail.  A  modern  poet 
came  nearer  the  truth  than  all  the  philosophers  when  he  said 
that  "  a  community  of  memories  and  of  hopes  "  is  the  common 
characteristic  of  all  nations,  but  even  this  loose  and  spiritual 
definition  requires,  if  not  modification,  at  least  restatement. 

Just  as  certain  natural  forces  when  brought  into  play  under 
certain  conditions  produce  certain  characteristic  results,  so 

v 


HISTORY   OF  WALES 

also  certain  historical  processes  produce  well-defined  and  easily 
recognizable  results  called  '  nations,' 

These  processes  are  always  at  work,  and  new  nations  are 
being  continually  called  into  existence,  while  old  nations 
decay,  disintegrate,  and  disappear. 

Nationality,  from  an  evolutionary  point  of  view,  may  only 
be  a  phase  in  a  particular  process  of  development,  starting 
with  the  family  and  ending  ultimately  with  the  world-empire  ; 
and,  indeed,  a  certain  type  of  philosopher  is  never  tired  of 
reminding  us  that  in  the  interests  of  the  human  race  generally 
the  process  needs  accelerating  :  to  them  the  Empire  is  a  great 
deal  nearer  the  ideal  than  the  Nation,  a  proposition,  for  many 
reasons,  demanding  considerable  demonstration,  and  with 
which  we  are  not  concerned.  In  this  historical  study  the 
author's  purpose  has  been  to  outline  the  processes  which  have 
been  at  work  in  the  making  of  a  peculiar  and  characteristic 
phenomenon — Welsh  Nationality. 

Some  people  would  very  likely  deny  what  to  us  appears  to 
be  an  incontrovertible  fact,  that  Wales  of  to-day  is  a  distinct 
nation,  and  in  support  of  their  attitude  would  cite  its  relation- 
ship to  the  United  Kingdom  and  to  the  British  Empire. 
They  would  maintain,  and  with  some  truth,  that  at  any  rate 
since  the  Tudor  period  it  has  shared  the  same  fortunes  as 
England.  Its  political  and  social  system  is  much  the  same 
as  that  of  the  United  Kingdom  generally,  and  its  needs  and 
interests  are  identical  with  those  of  the  other  territorial  units 
in  the  kingdom.  None  of  these  propositions  would  be  correct 
without  very  considerable  qualification,  but,  admitting  their 
strict  accuracy  for  the  sake  of  argument,  it  is  still  certain 
that  they  are  all  irrelevant  considerations. 

Any  person  not  of  the  country  itself  but  coming  into  Wales 
from  the  outside  is  immediately  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
he  has  entered  a  strange  country.  It  may  well  be  that  he 
has  come  into  a  district  which,  like  Ireland,  speaks  the  English 
language  ;  still  none  the  less  will  he  feel  that  the  people  are 
in  some  strange  and  subtle  way  in  permanent  contrast  with 
the  English  people  themselves.  It  would  be  difficult  to  define 
vi 


INTRODUCTION 

the  difference  in  any  detail ;  most  people  would  be  content 
to  say  that  it  was  in  atmosphere,  which  means  little  or  nothing. 
But  we  know  the  causes  which  have  produced  the  effect — the 
different  forces  which  have  been  at  work  in  moulding  the 
character  of  the  people  of  the  Principality :  they  have 
believed  and  worked  for  things  of  their  own  ;  they  have  lived 
and  died  for  their  own  distinct  ideals  ;  their  memories  are 
different,  and  so,  to  a  large  extent,  are  their  dreams  and  their 
hopes  ;  and  he  who  comes  to  them  from  other  lands  and 
other  peoples  immediately  becomes  aware  of  this  independence 
of  soul,  if  not  of  political  organization. 

Then  there  is  a  still  more  important  fact.  The  Welsh 
people  themselves  are  generally  conscious  of  their  independent 
nationality.  It  is  this  consciousness  that  makes  nations. 
This  raised  Bohemia  from  being  a  mere  racial  group  into  the 
dignity  of  nationhood.  This  consciousness  of  unity  and 
independence  at  a  great  political  crisis  welded  together  the 
infinitely  diverse  elements  of  the  United  States  and  made 
a  nation  of  the  clashing  factions.  This  consciousness  kept 
Norway  alive  through  all  diplomacies  and  political  exigencies 
until  at  last  through  the  medium  of  literature  the  whole  of 
Europe  awoke  to  its  national  existence.  It  is  this  inward 
certainty  of  the  soul  that  has  made  Ireland  the  chief  and  most 
difficult  problem  in  British  politics  for  many  centuries.  More, 
possibly,  than  any  other  force  has  this  wrought  miracles  in 
history — from  the  days  of  the  revolt  of  Israel  against  the 
Empire  down  to  our  times.  We  may  deride  and  condemn 
it,  as  Turkey  did  with  the  Balkan  States  ;  we  may  ignore  it, 
as  England  did  with  Ireland  ;  we  may  for  a  time  crush  it  with 
a  tyrant's  recklessness,  as  Austria  did  with  Italy  or  Germany 
with  Belgium  ;  in  the  end  it  will  prove  its  power  and  win. 
Alone  it  is  the  supreme  test  of  nationality  ;  and  it  exists  in 
modern  Wales,  and  is  perhaps  stronger  to-day  than  at  any 
other  period  of  the  nation's  history  because  it  is  more  universal 
—because  it  has  captured  the  soul  of  the  peasantry. 

We  have  already  said  that  in  the  case  of  the  Principality 
different  forces  have  been  at  work.  It  is  too  commonly 

vii 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

thought  that  since  what  is  generally  known  as  the  Conquest 
of  1282  Wales  has  travelled  historically  along  the  same  lines 
as  England.  This  book  will  show  how  misleading  such  a 
conception  is,  how  at  almost  every  single  great  crisis  in  our 
history  this  consciousness  of  independence  of  which  we  have 
spoken  has  asserted  itself  and  led  the  Welsh  people  a  way  of 
their  own. 

At  no  time  in  the  history  of  our  civilization  has  it  been 
more  important  that  a  great  Empire  and  its  citizens  should 
understand  the  true  import  and  significance  of  this  kind  of 
individualist  development — to  see  clearly  why  and  how  in 
national  life  different  causes  produce  different  and  distinctive 
results,  why  and  how  different  moulding  forces  produce 
different  attitudes  and  different  needs ;  and  it  is  on  the 
ground  that  in  this  book  we  find  this  great  and  important 
truth  set  out  that  I  commend  it  not  only  to  Welsh  readers, 
who  will  naturally  be  deeply  interested  in  it,  but  also  to  a 
much  wider  circle  of  readers — to  the  British  public. 

EUJS  J.  GRIFFITH 


vni 


PREFACE 

THE  history  of  Wales,  which  stretches  back  as  far  as 
that  of  any  nation  in  Europe,  and  which  presents  to 
the  student  of  peoples  some  most  interesting  problems, 
has  been  singularly  neglected  by  historians  until  compara- 
tively recent  years.  The  direct  ancestors  of  the  Welsh  were 
offering  sacrifices  to  their  gods  in  Britain  thousands  of  years 
before  our  era.  The  Welsh  are,  indeed,  descended  from  races 
which  conquered  a  large  part  of  Western  Europe,  Albion,  and 
Ireland  ;  their  immediate  ascendants,  the  Britons,  opposed 
Caesar's  landing  and  lived  long  under  Rome's  government, 
learning  their  lessons  in  Roman  schools  and  pleading  before 
Roman  judges ;  they  fought  stubbornly  and  for  centuries  against 
the  barbarian  Saxons,  struggling  as  few  people  have  had  to 
struggle  to  preserve  a  great  and  widespread  civilization. 
This  people,  driven  back  at  last  by  force  of  overwhelming 
numbers  to  the  mountains  of  Cymru,  still  held  the  flag  of 
liberty  aloft,  met  in  succession  and  successfully  Saxon  and 
Angle  and  Dane,  Norseman  and  Norman,  until  at  last,  worn 
out  and  embruted  by  centuries  of  warfare,  they  succumbed  to 
the  Norman  castle-builders,  as  more  than  twelve  hundred 
years  before  their  ancestors  had  succumbed  to  the  block-houses 
and  forts  of  Frontinus  and  Agricola. 

A  history  of  such  an  ancient  people  should  be  deeply 
interesting,  yet  until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
there  were  singularly  few  histories  produced  relating  to  Wales 
or  to  Welsh  movements.  With  the  Annales  Cambriae  and 
the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  as  foundation,  the  works  of  cleric 
chroniclers  such  as  Caradog  of  I/lancarvan,  a  few  later  writers 
made  some  effort  to  tell  the  story  of  their  country.  Humphrey 

ix 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

Llwyd,  Powel,  and  Wynne,  working  in  turn  on  the  primary 
authorities  and  editing  the  work  of  their  predecessor,  prevented 
Welsh  history  from  falling  into  complete  neglect.  Some  few 
others,  such  as  Edward  Lhuyd  in  the  seventeenth,  Pennant 
and  Warrington  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth,  and  Merrick 
in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries,  carried  on,  in  a 
partial  manner,  the  good  work. 

As  the  nineteenth  century  progressed  several  fresh  workers 
came  into  the  field.  The  publication  of  the  Myvyrian 
Archeology  of  Wales  in  1801-7  had  supplied  subsequent  writers 
with  much  good  material,  but  it  was  not  until  the  foundation 
of  the  third  Cymmrodorion  Society  in  1873  that  any  great 
historical  movement  took  place,  although  already  B.  B. 
Woodward  (1853)  and  Miss  Williams  ('  Ysgafell ')  (1869)  had 
produced  bulky  volumes  on  this  subject.  From  the  seventies 
onward  the  flow  of  works  upon  general  and  particular  Welsh 
history  became  more  and  more  considerable.  Any  adequate 
notice  of  modern  writers  is  not  possible  within  the  limits  of 
these  pages,  but  every  student  of  Welsh  history  owes  a  deep 
debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Cymmrodorion  Society  and  to  the 
Cambrian  Archaeological  Society.  Within  the  last  twenty 
years,  thanks  largely  to  the  researches  conducted  by  a  com- 
paratively small  body  of  enthusiastic  scholars,  our  knowledge 
of  Welsh  history  has  been  very  greatly  extended.  Improved 
texts  of  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  and  the  Ancient  Laws  of  Wales 
have  recently  been  issued,  and  it  may  be  that  the  time 
will  soon  arrive  when  Welsh  history  has  a  bibliography 
commensurate  with  its  importance. 

In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  treat 
of  the  history  of  Wales  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present 
day.  The  work  is,  however,  chiefly  concerned  with  the  doings 
of  the  Welsh  up  to  the  Act  of  Union  (1535).  Thence  onward 
events  are  surveyed  less  closely,  except  that  an  occasional 
pause  is  made  for  the  purpose  of  noting  some  great  and 
important  national  movement. 

I  am  fully  conscious  of  the  fact  that  throughout  the  work 
many  statements  are  made  dogmatically  which  in  the  present 
z 


PREFACE 

state  of  our  knowledge  are  highly  debatable.  Thus  I  regard 
the  earlier  people  who  lived  in  Britain  as  belonging  to  the 
Semitic  race.  I  use  this  term  conventionally.  Many  writers 
employ  the  term  '  Iberian.'  This  is  unfortunate  for  two 
reasons  :  (i)  There  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  connecting  the 
Neolithics  of  Britain  with  the  Iberian  rather  than  with  any 
other  of  the  so-called  Mediterranean  races  ;  (2)  the  word  is  mis- 
leading, since  it  turns  our  attention  to  the  Spanish  peninsula 
for  no  very  obvious  or  cogent  reason.  Other  writers  refer  to 
the  Mediterranean  races.  This  has  the  advantage  of  being 
non-committal  and  the  disadvantage  of  being  vague.  Others 
direct  our  attention  to  the  Libyan  tribe  of  the  Hamitic  family. 
These  last  writers  seem  to  be  best  supported  by  the  available 
evidence,  and  I  have  long  pondered  a  change  from  '  Semitic ' 
to  '  Hamitic/  especially  since  I  am  at  pains  to  show  the 
connexion  between  Neolithic  man  and  Egyptian  culture. 
The  term  '  Hamitic '  is,  however,  vague  and  liable  to  be 
misconstrued,  since  several  negroid  races  fall  within  that 
group.  Again,  as  I  point  out  in  the  body  of  the  work, 
Neolithic  culture,  such  as  it  was,  was  not  improbably 
connected  with  that  which  flowed  from  the  valleys  of 
the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates.  This  point  of  view,  I  think, 
is  best  brought  into  prominence  by  the  use  of  the  term 
'  Semitic/  but  it  must  be  understood  that  that  term  is 
used  conventionally  to  denote  men  racially  connected  either 
with  the  Hamitics  of  Egypt  or  Libya  or  with  the  Semitics 
proper. 

Another  point  must  be  made  clear.  The  title  '  Briton  ' 
is  to-day  borne  by  many  peoples  in  many  lands,  few  of  whom, 
probably,  realize  that,  strictly  speaking,  it  is  the  Welshman 
alone  who  is  entitled  to  that  name.  When  in  olden  times 
the  Anglo-Saxon  chroniclers  referred  to  their  enemies  the 
Britons  they  used  the  term  '  Wealas '  or  '  Bret-Wealas/ 
When  in  1870  the  German  historian  von  Treitschke  spoke  of 
the  Frenchmen  of  Lorraine  he  used  the  term  '  Walsch/ 
inelegantly  translated  in  Elsass  and  Lothringen  Past  and 
Present  as  '  Welsh.'  Both  terms  expressed  the  same  notion 

xi 


HISTORY   OF    WALES 

of  enmity.  The  Welshman  was  the  Saxon's  enemy,  but  he 
was  a  Briton-enemy. 

This  fact  that  the  Briton,  the  Briton  of  that  Britain  which 
the  Teutons  invaded,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  modern  Welsh- 
man must  be  borne  in  mind,  otherwise  the  treatment  of  the 
earlier  chapters  of  the  book  may  be  regarded  as  confused. 
Since  this  work  has  been  designed  in  such  a  manner  that  an 
impression,  however  imperfect,  may  be  obtained  of  the  under- 
lying causes  which  have  resulted  in  the  development  of  the 
Welsh  national  character,  it  has  been  necessary  to  consider 
the  history  of  the  Welsh  people  rather  than  the  history  of 
that  geographical  area  now  known  as  Wales.  Until  the  fifth 
century  of  our  era  the  Welsh  people  were  mainly  found  in 
Britain  rather  than  in  Cymru.  The  earlier  chapters  are 
therefore  concerned  with  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  as  a  whole. 

A  further  result  flowed  from  the  desire  to  depict  the  gradual 
development  of  Welsh  nationality.  In  the  happiest  of  cir- 
cumstances it  is  not  easy  to  provide  an  adequate  picture  of 
a  people  by  a  mere  recital  of  wars,  of  political  events,  or  of 
the  intrigues  or  accomplishments  of  princes  and  statesmen. 
When  one  is  considering  the  history  of  the  Welsh  people  the 
difficulties,  owing  to  several  causes,  chief  of  which  are  the 
scantiness  of  the  original  authorities,  the  nature  of  their 
compilation,  and  the  date  at  which  they  were  reduced  to 
their  present  form,  become  almost  insuperable.  An  endeavour 
has  therefore  been  made  to  obtain  an  idea  of  the  character  of 
the  ancient  Welsh  by  a  consideration  of  matters  other  than 
those  which  fall  within  the  scope  of  a  political  history,  using 
that  term  in  its  strictest  sense.  Their  religion,  laws,  customs, 
and  poetry  have  at  least  been  glanced  at. 

The  spelling  of  Welsh  names  is  always  a  difficulty,  and  it 
may  aid  the  non- Welsh  reader  to  follow  the  plan  adopted  if 
the  following  points  are  made  clear  : 

The  forms  Gruffydd,  Maredudd,  Owain,  Howel,  Conan,  and 
Llywelyn  are  consistently  used.  Exception,  however,  is  made 
in  the  case  of  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  (instead  of  Conan)  and 
Gruffwdd  (instead  of  Gruffydd),  the  son  of  lylywelyn  the 
xii 


PREFACE 

Great  (with  the  consequent  spelling  of  Llywelyn  Prince  of 
Wales'  name  as  Llywelyn  ap  Gruffudd).  The  purpose  of  these 
variations  is  to  distinguish  those  important  characters  from 
other  persons  in  Welsh  history  who  bore  similar  names.  The 
spelling  of  less  common  names  has  occasionally  been  varied 
also,  chiefly  because  of  a  difference  of  period. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  English  equivalents  for  Welsh 
names,  taken  in  the  main  from  the  recently  published  Llyfr 
Baglan  of  John  Williams  (edited  by  J.  A.  Bradney,  F.S.A.) : 


Cadwgan  =  Cadogan 
Goronwy  or 

Grono  =  Stephen 
Gruffydd  or  Gruffudd  = 

Griffith 

Gwilym  =  William 
leuan,  leun  =  Evan 
lorwerth  =  Edward 
Maredudd  =  Meredith 
Meurig  =  Merrick 


Owain  =  Owen  •=  Eugene 
Price  =  ap  Rice  (or  Rhys) 
Rhydderch  or 

Rhodri  =  Roderick 
Rhys  =  Rees  or  Reece 
Rinallt  =  Reginald 
Tewdwr  =  Tudor  = 

Theodore 
Vychan  =  Vaughan  = 

Little  (or  '  the  Junior ') 


Nest,  a  common  feminine  name,  comes  from  nes,  nessa, 
'  near,'  '  nearest,'  and  probably  meant  '  dear.' 

Welsh  names  are  sometimes  lengthy,  men  identifying 
themselves  by  reference  to  their  father  and  grandfather. 
'  Ap/  meaning  '  son  of,'  is  a  late  form,  being  a  corruption  of 
'  map/  '  mab/  and  is  sometimes  written  '  ab/  It  is  con- 
nected with  the  Goidelic  or  Gaelic  '  mac.'  For  daughter, 
following  John  Williams,  the  contraction  '  vz/  which  comes 
from  '  verch  '  or  '  ferch/  meaning  '  daughter/  is  used. 

The  spelling  of  place-names  has  been  checked  with  Professor 
Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  but  if  errors  or  inconsistencies 
exist  the  fault  is  mine. 

Among  the  many  works  to  which  I  am  indebted  for  informa- 
tion, the  following  have  been  found  particularly  useful : 

(i)  On  the  ancient  period  :  Monumenta  Historica  Britannica, 
Dr.  T.  R.  E.  Holmes'  Ancient  Britain  ;  Sir  John  Rhys'  Celtic 
Britain  and  Celtae  and  Galli ;  Professor  Haverfield's  Military 

xiii 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

Aspects  of  Roman  Wales;  Sir  John  Rhys  and  Sir  David 
Brynmor  Jones'  The  Welsh  People  ;  the  late  Dr.  Hodgkin's 
Political  History  of  England,  vol.  i ;  Mr.  E.  W.  B.  Nicholson's 
Keltic  Researches',  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce's  A  Social  History  of 
Ancient  Ireland  ;  Mr.  T.  W.  Rolleston's  Myths  and  Legends 
of  the  Celtic  Race ;  Sir  Norman  Lockyer's  Stonehenge ;  Mr. 
E.  M.  Nelson's  The  Cult  of  the  Circle-Builders  ;  M.  Roessler 
de  Graville's  L'Art  Celtique  ;  M.  D6chelette's  Manuel d'Archeo- 
logie  prlhistorique  ;  Mr.  J.  Romilly  Allen's  Celtic  Art  in  Pagan 
and  Christian  Times;  and  the  various  antiquarian  journals, 
in  particular  Archceologia,  Archceologia  Cambrensis,  and  the 
Transactions  of  the  Honourable  Society  of  Cymmrodorion. 

(2)  On  the  middle  period  :   Pre-eminently  Professor  Lloyd's 
History  of  Wales,  selections  from  which  have  been  used  by 
the    courtesy    of    the    author    and    the    publishers,    Messrs. 
Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.     The  Brut  y  Tywysogion  and  the 
Annales  Cambriae  have  formed  the  basis  for  the  whole  of 
this  period,  except  the  life  of  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan,  for  which 
I    have    used    Hanes    Gruffydd    ap   Cynan    (edited    by   Mr. 
Arthur  Jones).     Also  Sir  H.  C.  Hoare's  translation  of  the 
Itinerary  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis ;  Dr.  Henry  Owen's  Gerald  the 
Welshman  ;  Gualteri  Mapes  de  Nugis,  etc.  (edited  by  T.  Wright) 
(a  later  edition,  edited  by  Dr.  James,  has  recently  been  pub- 
lished) ;  Professor  Skene's  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales ;  Mr. 
G.   T.   Clark's  Mediceval  Military  Architecture ;    Sir   R.  W. 
Payne-Gallwey's  Projectile-throwing  Engines  of  the  Ancients  ; 
Transactions  of  the  Honourable  Society  of  Cymmrodorion  and  Y 
Cymmrodor  (particularly  Mr.  Nicholson's  article  on  Genealogies). 

Upon  the  Arthurian  legends  works  by  the  following  authors 
have  been  found  of  great  value  :  Miss  Jessie  L.  Weston, 
Sir  John  Rhys,  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt,  Dr.  Leo  Landau,  Mr.  Stuart 
Glennie,  Mr.  W.  W.  Comfort,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Dickinson.  Lady 
Charlotte  Guest's  translation  of  the  Mabinogion  has  been  used, 
in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt's  Mabinogion  and  Sir  John 
Rhys'  articles  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Honourable  Society 
of  Cymmrodorion. 

(3)  On  the  last  period  :  The  Statutes  at  Large  ;  the  Calendar 
xiv 


PREFACE 

and  Patent  Rolls  •  Sir  H.  Ellis'  Original  Letters  ;  Miss  C.  A.  J. 
Skeel's  The  Council  of  the  Marches  in  Wales ;  Mr.  J.  A. 
Wylie's  History  of  England  under  Henry  IV  (and  the  recently 
published  part  on  Henry  V)  ;  Thomas  Pennant's  Tours  in 
Wales ;  Mr.  A.  G.  Bradley's  Owen  Glyndwr ;  '  Owen  Rhos- 
comyl's '  article  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Honourable  Society 
of  Cymmrodorion  ;  Sir  John  Rhys  and  Sir  David  Brynmor 
Jones'  The  Welsh  People  ;  David  Powel's  Historic  of  Cambria  ; 
Mr.  H.  T.  Evans'  History  of  England  and  Wales  ;  Mr.  O.  M. 
Edwards'  Wales  ;  '  Maelog's  '  Poems  of  Davyth  ap  Gwilym  ', 
Edward  Jones'  Poetical  Relicks  of  Welsh  Bards  ;  and  the  Rev. 
W.  M.  Morris'  The  Renaissance  of  Welsh  Literature. 

For  the  Note  on  coins  Sir  John  Evans'  British  Coins  has 
been  almost  entirely  relied  upon.  On  the  laws  of  Wales,  to 
which  some  prominence  is  given,  the  Ancient  Laws  and  Insti- 
tutes of  Wales  (Record  Commission) ,  together  with  Mr.  Frederick 
Seebohm's  Tribal  System  in  Wales,  have  been  mainly  used. 

I  must  express  my  thanks  to  the  Right  Honourable  Ellis  J. 
Griffith,  K.C.,  M.P.,  for  his  Introduction  to  the  book  ;  the 
Right  Honourable  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  Bart.,  K.C.,  for 
permission  to  use  parts  of  certain  articles  which  had  appeared 
from  my  pen  hi  the  Law  Quarterly  Review ;  Mr.  J.  Travis 
Mills,  M.A.,  for  much  helpful  criticism  when  the  work  was  in 
proof  stage  and  before  ;  Professor  Haverfield  for  permission  to 
use  his  map  of  Roman  Wales;  Major-General  Sir  Francis  Lloyd, 
D.S.O.,  for  permission  to  reproduce  the  portrait  of  Humphrey 
Llwyd  in  his  possession  ;  Mr.  John  Ballinger,  M.A.,  Librarian 
of  the  National  Library  of  Wales,  for  help  in  obtaining  a 
reproduction  of  the  twelfth-century  Grail  manuscript  and  for 
various  suggestions  as  to  other  illustrations  ;  Mr.  C.  C.  Wood 
for  help  in  revising  the  proofs  and  in  compiling  the  Index  ;  the 
Assistants  in  the  Coin  and  Manuscript  Departments  of  the 
British  Museum  for  making  casts  of  coins  and  adding  identi- 
fying notes  thereon,  and  for  making  casts  of  seals  ;  and,  finally, 
my  wife  for  much  help  and  assistance. 

GILBERT  STONE 
LONDON,  1915 

XV 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGt 

I.  ORIGINS  i 

Pre-Glacial  Period  :  Neolithic  Man  :  Pre-Goidelic 
Races  :  Life  of  Neolithic  Man  :  The  Bronze-users  : 
The  Goidels. 

II.  THE  CIRCLES  AND  THE  DRUIDS  15 

The  Circles  :  By  whom  Built  :  Astronomical  Data  : 
Mathematical  Evidence  :  Antiquarian  Considerations  : 
Mythological  and  Religious  Considerations  :  Folk 
Practices  :  Philological  Evidence  :  Utility  of  the 
Circles  :  The  Druids  :  Degeneration  of  the  Druids  :  The 
Later  Druids. 

III.  THE  BRYTHONIC  CONQUEST  36 

The  Brythonic  Invasion  :  Description  of  the  Brythons  : 
Brythonic  or  Late  Celtic  Art  :  Domestic  Arrange- 
ments of  the  Brythons  :  Nature  of  the  Brythons. 

IV.  THE  ROMAN  OCCUPATION  48 

Caesar's  Two  Landings  :  Roman  Wars  in  Britain  : 
Caratacus  :  Boadicea  :  Agricola  :  Pacification  of  Wales  : 
Roman  Forts  :  The  Influence  of  Roman  Civilization 
on  Britain  :  Roman  Roads  :  Roman  Pottery  and 
Remains  :  Famous  Romans  in  Britain. 

V.  THE  ANGLO-SAXON  INVASION  67 

Commencement  of  Saxon  Invasion  :  Maximus,  or 
Maxen  Wledig  :  Vortigern  :  Scots  from  Ireland  : 
Weakness  of  Britain  :  The  Saxon  Attack  :  Results  of 
Saxon  Invasion  :  Important  Battles  :  The  Hallelujah 
Victory  :  Battle  of  Mount  Badon  :  Deorham  :  Battle  of 
Chester. 

VI   THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  CYMRY  81 

Cunedda  Wledig  :  Vortigern  :  Dyfnwal  Moelmud  : 
Maelgwn  Gwynedd  :  Weakness  of  the  Welsh  Tribal 
System  :  Arthur  :  Votepori  :  Gildas  the  Reformer  :  The 
Struggle  with  Bernicia  :  Rhun  :  Cadvan  :  Cadwallawn  : 
Cadwaladr. 

b  xvii 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 

CHAPTM  PAG« 

VII   THE  SOCIAL  CONDITION  OF  PRE-NORMAN  WALES     100 

Generalities  :  Welsh  System  of  Land-tenure  : 
Organization  of  the  Tribe  :  Political  Divisions  : 
Status  :  The  Bard  :  Welsh  Druidism  :  Everyday  Life 
of  the  Cymry  :  Domestic  Architecture  :  Cures  and 
Cunning  :  Valuations. 

VIII.  WELSH  LAWS  AND  CUSTOMS  123 

The  Welsh  Laws  :  Position  of  Women :  Law  of  Contract : 
Procedure  :  Criminal  Law  :  Rules  relating  to  Fire. 

IX.  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  PRINCES  (FROM  THE 
DEATH  OF  CADWALADR  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF 
GRUFFYDD  AP  LLYWELYN)  139 

Scantiness  of  Authorities  :  Ivor  andRhodri  Molwynog  : 
Conan  and  Howel  :  Merfyn  Frych  :  Rhodri  Mawr  : 
The  '  Black  Pagans '  :  Anarawd,  Cadell,  and  Merfyn  : 
Alfred  and  the  Danes  :  Howel  Dha  :  Owain  ap  Howel  : 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  :  Llywelyn  ap  Seisyll. 

X.  GRUFFYDD  AP  LLYWELYN  168 

Parentage  and  Character  :  Struggle  for  Deheubarth  : 
Gruffydd  Supreme  in  Wales  :  Decline  in  Power  : 
Results  of  his  Reign  :  Revival  of  the  Arts. 

XI   FROM  THE  DEATH  PF  GRUFFYDD  AP  LLYWELYN 

TO  THE  DEATH  OF  OWAIN^F  POWYS  179 

Wales  disrupted  :  The  Normans  :  Bleddyn  ap 
Cynvyn  :  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  and  Trahaearn  :  Rhys 
ap  Owain  :  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr  :  The  Powysian  Anarchy  : 
Owain  and  Nest  :  Cadwgan  and  lorwerth  :  Madog. 

XII.  THE  WELSH  ROMANCES  201 

The  Arthurian  Legends  :  Origin  :  Dissemination  : 
Lancelot  and  Peredur  :  Historical  Values  :  The  Rise  of 
Chivalry. 

XIII.  THE  NORMAN  CASTLES  221 

Influence  on  Welsh  History  :  The  Castle  :  Castle 
Architecture  :  The  Motte  :  The  Stone  Castle  :  The 
Shell  Keep  :  The  Rectangular  Keep  :  The  Donjon 
Keep  or  Juliet  :  Methods  of  Attack  :  Engines  of  War. 

XIV   GRUFFYDD  AP  CYNAN  245 

In  Ireland  :  The  First  Expedition  :  Second  Expedi- 
tion :  Third  Expedition  :  Gruffydd  a  Prisoner  :  Fourth 
Expedition  :  Fit tk  Expedition  :  William  Rufus  invades 
North  Wales  :  Conflict  with  the  Marcher  Lords  : 
Gruffydd's  Rise  to  Power  :  Later  Years, 
xviii 


CONTENTS 

HAPTER  PAGB 

XV.    OWAIN   GWYNRDD  259 

Attacks  upon  the  South  Wales  Marchers  :  Gruffydd  ap 
Rhys  :  Renewed  Welsh  Attacks  :  Conflicts  between  the 
Welsh  :  Owain's  Successes  against  Stephen  :  Conflict 
with  Henry  II  :  Position  in  South  Wales  :  Powys  : 
Henry's  Third  Expedition  :  Welsh  Successes. 

XVI.  THE  LORD  RHYS  278 

Rise  to  Power  :  Conflict  with  England  :  Henry  II 
advances  into  Wales  :  Power  of  Rhys  established  :  A 
Patron  of  the  Arts  :  Maelgwn  :  Position  of  Wales  after 
the  Death  of  Henry  :  Gwenwynwyn  and  Llywelyn. 

XVII.  GEOFFREY,  WALTER,  AND  GERALD  290 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  :  Walter  Map  :  The  Goliards  : 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  :  Fight  for  St.  David's  :  His 
Character  and  Last  Days  :  His  Description  of  the 
Welsh. 

XVIII.  LLYWELYN  THE  GREAT  303 

Llywelyn 's  Rise  to  Power  :  John  and  Llywelyn  : 
The  Campaign  of  1215  :  Llywelyn  Leader  of  the 
Welsh  :  The  de  Breoses  :  Llywelyn  Supreme  : 
Llywelyn  and  William  Marshal  :  Friendship  and 
Enmity  :  Llywelyn's  Last  Years. 

XIX.  THE  DOWNFALL  .  329 

General  Considerations  :  David  and  Gruffudd  : 
David's  Death  :  The  Rise  of  Llywelyn  ap  Gruffudd  : 
Llywelyn  Prince  of  Wales  :  The  Peace  of  Montgomery  : 
The  Treaty  of  Conway,  or  Aberconway  :  The  Rising 
of  1282  :  The  Edwardian  Conquest. 

XX.  FROM  THE  CONQUEST  TO  OWAIN  GLYNDWR  350 

Statute  of  Rhuddlan  :  Revolt  :  Madog  :  Peace  : 
Llywelyn  Bran  :  The  Black  Death  :  The  Poets  of 
the  Fourteenth  Century  :  Davydd  ap  Gwilym  :  lolo 
Goch  :  The  Peasants. 

XXI.  OWAIN  GLYNDWR  369 

Birth  and  Early  Years  :  Lord  Grey  of  Ruthin  :  Owain 
in  Arms  :  The  Alliance  :  Battle  of  Shrewsbury  :  South 
Wales  and  the  French  :  Owain's  Decline  :  Last  Days. 

XXII.  WALES  AND  ENGLAND  UNITED  391 

General  Sketch  of  the  Period  from  Owain  to  the 
Present  Day  :  War  and  Lawlessness  :  Wars  of  the 
Roses  :  Union  and  Law  :  The  Act  of  Union  :  Parlia- 
mentary Representation  :  The  Renaissance  :  The 
Civil  War  :  The  Nonconformists  :  Conclusion. 

xix 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

PACE 

NOTE  A.  BARROWS,  CROMLECHS,  DOLMENS,  AND  GOR- 

SEDDS  409 

The  Long  Barrow  :  Cromlechs,  Dolmens,  Gorsedds  : 
The  Round  Barrow 

NOTE  B.  COINS  415 

Romano-British   Coins    :    British    Coins :     (a)   Unin- 
scribed  ;    (6)  Inscribed  :  Welsh  and  Norman  Coins. 

NOTE  C.  WELSH  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS  421 

The  Harp  :  The  Crwth  :  The  Pib-corn,  etc.  :  Giraldus 
on  Welsh  Music. 

WELSH  SEALS  427 

SELECTION  OF  IMPORTANT  DATES  429 

INDEX 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

MAPS 

PAG* 

COAST-UNE  OF  WAI<ES  IN  THE  NEOLITHIC  AGE  3 

ROMAN  WAIVES  48 

HUMPHREY  I^WYD'S  MAP  OF  WAIVES  156 

WALES  SHOWING  THE  SITES  OF  ITS  CASTLES  222 

PLATES 

PLATE 

THE  WELSH  BARD  Frontispiece 

1.  FIGURINE  DE  BRASSEMPOUY  4 

Prom  L'Art  Celtique,  by  Charles  Rcessler,  and  described  by 
him  at  pp.  44  et  seq.  It  was  discovered  in  1894  by 
MM.  Roessler  and  de  Laporterie  at  Brassempouy. 
M.  Roessler,  though  he  admits  that  the  style  of  hair- 
dressing  is  Egyptian,  says  that  the  face  (which  is  that 
of  a  woman)  is  not  typical  of  that  people,  but  would 
rather  seem  to  belong  to  a  Mongolian  race.  The  head 
is  very  brachycephalic.  M.  Roessler  dates  it  as  belong- 
ing to  the  somewhat  vague  period  known  as  the 
Quaternary.  When  found  it  lay  3  m.  80  c.  under  the 
surface  of  the  soil.  The  figurine  is  carved  from  a 
piece  of  ivory,  and  it  may  be  that  it  represents  a  type 
present  in  this  island  in  Neolithic  times.  Near  it  lay, 
among  other  bones,  some  rhinoceros  teeth.  Mammoth 
teeth  were  also  found  near  by. 

2.  ARROW-   AND   lyANCE-HEADS   OF   CHIPPED   Fl,INT  6 

Found  in  Scotland,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

3.  FINELY  WORKED  STONE  HAMMER-HEAD  8 

Probably  of  the  Neolithic  period  ;  so  symmetrically  cut 
that  it  would  be  beyond  the  skill  of  any  modern  flint- 
worker  to  chip  it.  Reproduction  from  the  cast  in 
the  British  Museum.  Found  at  Maesmore,  Corwen, 
Merionethshire. 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


rtATE 


4.  BRONZE  PALSTAVE,  TORC,  ARMLETS,  AND  RINGS 

Found  in  1825  together  at  Hollingbury  Hill,  near  Stanmer. 
Sussex.  The  two  spiral  rings,  when  found,  were 
threaded  on  the  tore.  Several  armlets  of  gold  have  at 
various  times  been  dug  up.  The  present  group  is 
described  in  the  Archceological  Journal,  vol.  v,  p.  323, 
where  they  are  attributed  to  the  Bronze  Age. 

5.  (i)  BRONZE  PAN  12 

Found  at  Aylesford.  Of  fine  workmanship,  and  belonging 
probably  to  the  Late  Celtic  period.  Described  in  A  rchceo- 
logia,  vol.  lii,  p.  378.  In  the  British  Museum. 

(2)  A  THIN  BRONZE  VESSEL  12 

It  at  one  time  had  handles.  Found  at  the  entrance  to  the 
earthworks  called  '  The  Berth,'  Baschurch,  Salop. 
It  probably  belongs  to  the  early  Iron  Age.  It  may  have 
been  used  as  a  water-clock,  for,  owing  to  its  thinness 
and  the  fact  that  the  bottom  is  pierced  with  a  small 
hole,  it  would  slowly  fill  if  placed  on  the  surface  of 
water.  When  a  certain  mark  was  reached  it  would  then 
be  refloated  by  an  attendant.  This  system  of  telling 
the  time  is  known  to  have  been  practised  in  India  and 
Ceylon.  In  the  British  Museum. 

6   CINERARY  VASE  14 

Found  in  1886  with  many  others  in  the  famous  Late  Celtic 
Urn  Field  at  Aylesford,  Kent,  and  described  in  Archceo- 
logia,  vol.  lii,  p.  329.  It  is  of  fine  clay  covered  with 
brown-coloured  '  varnish.'  The  foot  or  pedestal  is  an 
unusual  feature.  Height,  14  in.  In  the  British  Museum. 

7.  BAS-RELIEF  RELATING  TO  THE  TEMPLE  OF  SIPPAR        18 

Made  by  Nabu-Pal-Iddina,  king  of  Babylon,  about  870  B.C., 
to  record  his  restoration  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun-god 
at  Sippar.  It  represents  Baal  enthroned,  and  shows 
symbolically  the  three  sacred  numbers  3,  K,  and  7. 
The  three  discs  at  the  top  represent  the  Moon,  Sun, 
and  Venus.  The  god  holds  a  rod  and  ring,  repre- 
senting the  sacred  number  K.  The  relief  was  protected 
by  terra-cotta  coverings,  on  the  back  of  one  of  which  is 
an  inscription  of  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon  625-604 
B.C.  It  is  described  by  Professor  King  in  his  monograph 
Boundary  Stones  and  Memorial  Tablets  in  the  British 
Museum.  In  the  British  Museum. 

8.  ASSYRIAN  BOUNDARY  STONE  20 

Showing  a  symbolism  not  dissimilar  from  that  in  Plate  7. 
Fully  described,  with  inscription  translated,  by  Pro- 
fessor King  in  his  monograph  Boundary  Stones  and 
Memorial  Tablets  in  the  British  Museum.  In  the  British 
Museum. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PACK 

9.  ENTRANCE   TO   THE   TUMULUS   AT  NEW   GRANGE, 

IRELAND  22 

This  Neolithic  burial-place  is  in  many  ways  remarkable. 
In  size  the  mound  is  280  feet  wide  and  44  feet  high.  It 
is  of  the  chambered  type,  and  the  dead  whose  remains 
it  covered  were  placed  in  stone  sarcophagi.  These 
were  ransacked  by  the  Danes.  The  large  stone  shown 
lying  on  its  side  at  the  entrance  is  covered  with  spiral 
markings  not  dissimilar  from  those  found  on  the  chalk: 
objects  shown  in  Plate  10  and  on  many  other  Neolithic 
remains.  Inside  the  tomb  a  solar  ship  roughly  scratched 
on  the  walls  has  been  discovered. 

10.  FOOD-VESSEL' AND  COVER  AND  THREE  CHALK  OBJECTS      24 

From  Neolithic  or  early  Bronze  Age  barrows.  The  food- 
vessel  was  found  at  Canton,  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire. 
In  these  food- vessels,  which  are  commonly  found  in  the 
barrows,  remains  of  animal  and  vegetable  foods  have 
been  discovered.  The  three  lower  objects  are  of  chalk, 
and  come  from  a  child's  tomb  in  Yorkshire.  They 
may  have  been  used  as  idols.  They  are  ornamented  with 
the  usual  spiral  markings,  and  if  the  smallest  of  the 
three  be  examined  a  rude  representation  of  a  human 
face  will  be  seen.  Schlicmann  found  somewhat  similar 
markings  on  vases  at  Hissarlik.  The  style  of  the 
carving  recalls  Neolithic  and  Bronze  Age  antiquities 
from  the  Mediterranean  area.  These  objects  are  described 
in  Archceologia,  vol.  lii,  p.  25,  where  they  are  assigned 
to  the  Bronze  Age.  In  the  British  Museum. 

11.  BRONZE  IMPLEMENTS,  SPEAR-HEADS,  ETC.  38 

From  Ty  Mawr,  Holy  head  Mountain.  They  were  found 
with  certain  other  remains  in  1832,  and  are  interesting 
because  the  type  is  very  similar  to  those  found  in  Ireland. 
The  whole  find  is  fully  described  in  the  Archaeological 
Journal,  vol.  xxiv,  pp.  253  et  seq.  In  the  British 
Museum. 

12.  BRONZE  MIRROR  40 

Found  about  1833  at  Trelan,  Bahow,  parish  of  St.  Keverne, 
Cornwall,  in  a  stone  grave,  with  beads,  armlets,  and 
other  personal  ornaments.  It  belongs  to  the  Late 
Celtic  period.  It  is  circular  in  form,  6  in.  in  diameter, 
with  an  elegantly  designed  handle  projecting  2$  in. 
from  the  edge.  When  found  one  side  was  still  quite 
brightly  polished.  Both  sides  of  the  mirror  are  flat; 
one  is  engraved  with  a  pattern  typical  of  the  period. 
It  is  described,  together  with  other  mirrors  of  a  like 
period,  in  the  Arch&ological  Journal,  vol.  xxx,  p.  267. 
There  is  a  very  similar  mirror  in  the  Mayer  Museum, 
Liverpool.  In  the  British  Museum. 

xxiii 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 

FLAT*  »*» 

ij.  BRONZE  AND  ENAMEL  SHIELD  42 

Found  in  the  river  Witham,  Lincolnshire.  This  and  an 
equally  fine  shield  found  in  the  Thames,  near  Battersea, 
have  been  described  as  the  most  beautiful  examples  of 
Late  Celtic  art  which  have  come  down  to  us.  The 
shield  illustrated  is  noticeable  both  for  its  artistic 
design  and  its  workmanship.  It  is  decorated  with 
coral  studs.  The  Battersea  shield,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  ornamented  with  red  enamel  and  repouss6  work ; 
the  enamel  is  still  perfect,  though  the  colour  appears 
to  have  faded  somewhat.  Enamelling  seems  to  have 
been  very  popular  with  the  Brito-Romans,  and  in  the 
Shrewsbury  Museum  a  large  cake  of  blue  enamel  found 
at  Viroconium  is  to  be  seen.  The  present  shield  may 
date  from  a  period  anterior  to  the  coming  of  the  Romans. 
In  the  British  Museum. 

14.  THE  AYLESFORD  PAIL  44 

So  called  from  the  place  where  found.  Probably  the  wooden 
part  was  originally  of  ash,  and  would  be  bound  together 
by  the  bronze  bands,  the  upper  one  of  which  is  well 
ornamented  in  the  Late  Celtic  style.  The  part  which 
connects  the  handle  to  the  pail  will  be  observed  to  be 
fashioned  in  the  form  of  a  head,  a  somewhat  unusual 
form  in  Late  Celtic  work.  The  pail  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  is  described  in  Archceologia,  vol.  lii, 
p.  361. 

15.  A    BILINGUAL    INSCRIPTION    FOUND    AT    NEVERN, 

PEMBROKESHIRE  46 

Above  the  inscription  is  in  Roman  characters,  below  in 
Ogham  writing.  It  has  recently  been  described  by 
Sir  John  Rhys,  in  Archesologia  Cambrensis,  6th  Series, 
vol.  xiii,  pp.  376  et  seq.  Reference  may  also  be  made 
to  the  epigraphic  notes  of  the  same  writer  in  Archceologia 
Cambrensis,  5th  Series,  vol.  xiii,  pp.  98  et  seq.,  and  his 
table  of  Oghams  and  debased  Latin  capitals  at  pp.  297 
et  seq.  of  the  same  volume.  The  reading  of  the  Ogham 
in  the  present  inscription  is  "  M aglicunas  maqi 
Clutar  .  .  .";  the  stone  then  breaks  off.  It  was  doubt- 
less a  monument  to  the  Goidel  Maglocu  (or  in  its  Latin 
form  Maglocunus),  the  son  of  Clutorios. 

16.  GENERAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EXCAVATIONS    ROUND 

THE    BASILICA  OF  VIROCONIUM   (URICONIUM, 
WROXETER)  54 

In  the  left-hand  foreground  are  the  remains  of  the  hypocaust 
of  the  baths.  This  city  was  of  considerable  size,  with 
a  circumference  of  some  miles  and  stretching  at  least 
from  Wroxeter  to  the  Severn.  The  ruins,  which  are 
some  seven  miles  from  Wellington,  in  Shropshire,  are 
being  slowly  opened  up.  Already  part  of  a  street, 
xxiv 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

W.ATH  PAG» 

showing  shops  and  a  blacksmith's  forge,  has  been 
unearthed,  besides  the  town  hall  and  baths.  Among  the 
ruins  many  objects  of  Samian,  Upchurch,  Roman- 
Salopian,  and  common  ware  have  been  found,  also  glass 
vessels,  jewellery,  tombstones,  etc.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  finds  was  an  oculist's  seal,  now  in  the  Shrews- 
bury Museum. 

17.  SEATED  FIGURE  OF  A  GODDESS  56 

Found,  together  with  the  sculptured  head  of  a  god,  at 
Caerwent,  Monmouthshire,  in  1908.  Carved  out  of  local 
yellow  sandstone,  it  is  probably  the  work  of  a  local 
sculptor,  as  has  been  stated  by  M.  Esp£randieu  and 
the  learned  writers  in  Archaologia,  vol.  Ixii  (i),  where, 
at  p.  16,  it  is  described.  It  is  not  unlike  the  Gallo- 
Roman  figures  found  in  France. 

18.  CAERWENT  :  THE  ROUND  TEMPLE  58 

Showing  the  outer  wall  and  east  gate,  looking  north.  This 
interesting  Roman  ruin  was  discovered  by  accident  by 
some  workmen  digging  for  stone  in  September  1912. 
Some  skeletons  found  in  it,  evidently  of  corpses  flung 
there  when  the  temple  was  already  in  ruins,  probably 
speak  of  some  Saxon  raid.  The  excavations  are  described 
by  Mr.  A.  E.  Hudd,  F.S.A.,  in  Arch&ologia,  vol.  Ixiv,  pp. 
437  et  seq. 

19.  BILINGUAL  SEPULCHRAL,  MONUMENT  60 

Dedicated  by  Barate,  a  Palmyrean  or  Syrian,  to  his  British 
wife  Regina,  formerly  a  freedwoman  and  of  the  race 
of  the  Catuvellauni.  She  died  at  the  age  of  thirty  years. 
Regina  is  elegantly  gowned,  and  has  her  jewel-box  by 
her  side.  Below  the  Latin  inscription  the  husband  has 
had  written  in  the  characters  of  his  native  land  the 
short  sentence  :  "  Regina,  the  freedwoman  of  Barate, 
alas  !  "  The  monument  is  now  in  the  South  Shields 
Museum,  and  we  are  indebted  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Public  Library  for  the  photograph  from  which  this 
reproduction  has  been  made. 

20.  ROMAN  MILESTONE  62 

Found  at  Rhiwiau,  Llanfairfechan,  co.  Carnarvon.  It  bears 
the  name  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  and  was  originally 
set  up  some  eight  miles  from  the  Roman  station  of 
Canovium  in  A.D.  121-122.  In  the  British  Museum. 

21.  EXAMPLES  OF  SAMIAN  WARE  AND  ROMAN  CUT  GLASS      64 

No.  i  (numbering  from  left  to  right,  down)  :  A  Gaulish 
bowl  made  by  the  potter  Divixtus  at  Lezouz,  Puy-de- 
D6me.  It  was  found  at  Castor,  Northants.  It  belongs 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century.  The  decoration 
consists  of  panels  containing  human  figures;  the 
modelling  is  vigorous.  The  type  is  No.  30.  No.  2 : 

XXV 


PACE 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 

Gaulish  bowl  made  by  the  potter  Cinnamus  at  Lezouz. 
Period,  middle  of  the  second  century.  Found  at 
Lincoln.  The  decoration  takes  the  form  of  medallions 
and  standing  figures.  Type  No.  37.  No.  4  :  Gaulish 
bowl  made  by  the  potter  Meddilus,  from  La  Graufesenque, 
Aveyron.  Period,  late  first  century.  Found  near 
London.  The  formal  decoration  is  lightened  with 
figures  of  men  and  animals.  Type  No.  29.  No.  5  : 
A  very  beautiful  Gaulish  vase,  made  at  Lezouz.  Period, 
third  century.  Found  at  Felixstowe,  Suffolk.  Orna- 
mented with  slip  and  moulded  decorations.  Type 
No.  37.  A  large  number  of  fragments  of  Samian  and 
other  ware  have  been  found  at  Viroconium,  and  bear  the 
marks  of  a  considerable  number  of  potters.  No.  3  : 
This  rare  cup  of  cut  glass  comes  from  a  Roman  cemetery 
at  Barnwell,  Cambridgeshire.  All  these  objects  are  in 
the  British  Museum. 

22.  ROMAN  JUG  66 

An  elegant  example  of  the  more  common  Roman  glass.  It 
was  found  in  a  grave  at  Bayford-next-Sittingbourne, 
Kent.  It  is  of  pale  olive-green  glass.  Height,  Q±  in. 
It  is  described  in  Archesologia  Cantiana,  vol.  xvi,  p.  2. 
In  the  British  Museum. 

23.  ELISEG'S  PILLAR  84 

Seen  from  the  Concenn  Inscription  side  and  with  the  pro- 
tecting railings  removed.  It  is  fully  described  by  Sir 
John  Rhys  in  his  article  All  Around  the  Wrekin,  in 
y  Cymmrodor,  vol.  xxi,  pp.  39  et  seq.  Concenn  was 
possibly  the  son  of  Cadell,  king  of  Powys  c.  800.  In 
the  inscription  as  preserved  by  Edward  Lhuyd,  the 
antiquary,  who  read  it  in  1696,  we  find  Cadell  given 
as  the  son  of  Brochinail,  the  son  of  Eh'seg. 

24.  THE  ROUND  TABLE  AT  WINCHESTER  HALL  90 

Possibly  that  referred  to  by  Caxton  in  his  Introduction  to 
Malory's  Morte  d' Arthur. 

25.  FACSIMILE  OF  F.  493  MS.  COTTON.  VITELL.   cm 

(BRITISH  MUSEUM)  118 

The  work  from  which  this  portion  of  a  page  is  reproduced 
deals  with  leechdoms,  wort-cunning,  and  star-craft, 
and  has  been  edited  by  Cockayne.  It  forms  three 
volumes  in  the  Rolls  Series.  Although  a  work  con- 
cerned primarily  with  the  cures  and  cunning  of  the 
Saxons,  it  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  social  condition  of  this  island  in  the  tenth  century. 
Immediately  above  the  drawing  of  a  snake  appears  the 
word  Haebpe-  The  sentence  below,  beginning  with 
the  words  Pr3  naebpan,  may  be  translated  as  follows  : 
"  For  bite  of  snake,  this  wort,  which  we  named  cyno- 
glossum,  is  of  good  advantage,  pounded  and  swallowed 

xxvi 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAG* 

in  wine."  The  next  paragraph  gives  a  cure  for  a  quartan 
ague,  etc.  Besides  cures  the  work  contains  much 
information  relating  to  foods,  mode  of  life,  etc.,  in  those 
times. 

26.  CELTIC  CROSS  IN  I^LANBADARN  FAWR  CHURCHYARD    120 

This  cross  of  grey  granite  is  perhaps  the  finest  example  of 
an  old  Celtic  cross  in  Wales.  In  its  present  condition 
it  stands  some  8  feet  above  the  ground.  One  panel 
contains  a  rude  representation  of  a  human  figure, 
probably  some  Churchman,  for  the  right  hand  appears 
to  be  raised  as  in  the  act  of  benediction,  and  in  the  left 
hand  there  would  appear  to  be  a  pastoral  staff.  There  is 
another  ancient  stone  monument  in  the  same  churchyard, 
and  popular  legend  informs  us  that  they  were  the  stone 
flails  of  Archbishop  Sampson.  A  full  account  of  these 
early  Christian  Celtic  crosses  will  be  found  in  Archceo- 
logia  Cambrensis,  5th  Series,  vol.  xvi,  pp.  i  et  seq. 

27.  ST.  WINIFRED'S  (OR  WENEFREDE'S)  WEU,  136 

This  well,  which  gives  its  name  to  Holywell,  is  named 
after  the  virgin  Wenefrede,  who  lived,  according  to 
tradition,  in  the  seventh  century.  She  was  sister  to 
St.  Beuno,  under  whose  care  she  was  placed.  A 
neighbouring  prince,  won  by  her  beauty,  was  con- 
sumed with  passion  for  her,  and  when  she  refused  to 
gratify  his  desires  he  drew  his  sword  and  struck  off  her 
head.  The  story  proceeds  to  tell  us  that  the  prince 
(Caradoc)  instantly  fell  down  dead  and  was  swallowed 
up  by  the  earth.  The  head,  rolling  down  the  hill  upon 
which  the  tragedy  had  occurred,  stopped  near  St. 
Beuno's  Church,  and  from  the  spot  where  it  rested  a 
spring  of  pure  water  with  wonderful  healing  qualities 
burst  forth.  The  tale  ends  on  a  happy  note,  for  we  are 
told  that  St.  Beuno,  taking  the  head,  united  it  to  the 
body  and  his  sister  returned  to  life.  For  further  details 
reference  may  be  made  to  Pennant's  Tours  in  Wales, 
vol.  i,  p.  44. 

28.  OFFA'S  DIKE  144 

The  Fosse  is  seen  on  the  left.  One  of  the  earliest  references 
to  the  Dike  occurs  in  Asser's  Life  of  Alfred  :  "  Fuft  in 
Mercia  moderno  tempore  quidam  slrenuus,  atque  universis 
circa  se  regibus  et  regionibus  finitimis  formidolosus 
rex,  nomine  Offa  :  qui  vallum  magnum  inter  Britanniam 
atque  Merciam  de  mari  usque  ad  mare  facer e  imperavit." 

29.  REMAINS  OF  THE  I,ATER  CASTLE  OF  DEGANWY  148 

Deganwy  was  for  centuries  the  seat  of  the  royal  house  of 
Cunedda,  and  was  the  favourite  stronghold  of  Maelgwn 
Gwynedd  in  the  sixth  century.  The  castle,  of  which 
only  ruins  now  remain,  is  of  course  of  much  later  date. 
The  ancient  hold  was  abandoned,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  struck  by  lightning  in  8 1 2 .  The  castle  was  destroyed 

xxvii 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

FLATS  PAO* 

by  the  English  in  822,  but  was  restored  by  Hugh  the 
Fat,  Earl  of  Chester,  and  was  occupied  by  Robert  of 
Rhuddlan.  It  fell  into  the  hands  of  Llywelyn  the  Great 
in  1200,  and  was  destroyed  and  rebuilt  in  1210.  '. 
was  again  destroyed,  to  be  again  rebuilt  by  Henry  III 
in  1245.  In  1263  it  was  captured  by  Llywelyn  ap 
Gruffudd,  and  passed  from  him  finally  at  the  time  of 
the  Edwardian  Conquest. 

30.  MAP  OF  WALES  BY  HUMPHREY  LLWYD  156 

Humphrey  Llwyd,  the  eminent  Welsh  physician  and 
antiquary,  lived  1527-1568.  Perhaps  this  was  one  of 
the  maps  which  he  dedicated  and  sent  to  Ortelius  when 
on  his  deathbed,  accompanying  the  gift  with  a  letter, 
dated  August  3,  1568.  For  a  portrait  of  Llwyd  see 
Plate  55. 

31.  THE  WATER  TOWER  AND  WALLS,  CHESTER  176 

This  picture  is  given  the  particular  place  it  occupies  in  this 
book  not  because  the  walls  illustrated  belong  to  the 
early  years  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  but  because  it  was 
from  Chester  that  the  first  great  effort  was  made  by 
the  Normans  at  the  subjugation  of  Wales.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  the  next  Plate. 

32.  RHUDDLAN  CASTLE  186 

Robert  of  Rhuddlan  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Normans 
to  establish  a  footing  in  North  Wales.  The  present 
castle,  however,  belongs  to  a  much  later  period,  the 
first  steps  toward  its  building  having  probably  been 
taken  by  Edward  I,  c.  1277.  The  foundation  of  Flint 
Castle  belongs  to  the  same  year. 

33.  THE  SEPULCHRAL  URN  WHICH  CONTAINED  THE  ASHES 

OF  BRONWEN  204 

This  urn  was  discovered  in  a  grave  on  the  banks  of  the  Alaw, 
in  Anglesey,  in  1813,  at  the  place  called  Ynys  Bronwen 
(Bronwen's  Isle).  Sir  R.  C.  Hoare,  in  a  communication 
to  the  Cambro- Briton,  vol.  ii,  p.  71,  refers  to  it  as  fol- 
lows :  "A  farmer  .  .  .  having  occasion  for  stones  .  .  . 
«  and  having  observed  a  stone  or  two  peeping  through 
the  turf  of  a  circular  elevation  on  a  flat  not  far  from  the 
river  [Alaw],  was  induced  to  examine  it,  when,  after 
paring  off  the  turf,  he  came  to  a  considerable  heap  of 
stones,  or  carnedd.  covered  with  earth,  which  he  removed 
with  some  degree  of  caution,  and  got  to  a  cist  formed  of 
coarse  flags  canted  and  covered  over.  On  removing 
the  lid,  he  found  it  contained  an  urn  placed  with  its 
mouth  downwards,  full  of  ashes  and  half-calcined 
fragments  of  bone."  The  learned  antiquary  then  calls 
our  attention  to  the  passage  in  the  Mabinogion  :  "A 
square  grave  was  made  for  Bronwen,  the  daughter  of 
Llyr,  on  the  banks  of  the  Alaw,  and  there  she  was 
buried."  Branwen  (or  Bronwen),  '  the  White-bosomed,' 
xxviii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAGE 

is  a  heroine  of  one  of  the  best  known  of  Welsh  stories, 
and  is  famed  for  her  charms  and  her  woes.  Davydd  ap 
Gwilym,  in  addressing  his  inamorata  Morvydd,  likens 
her  fairness  to  that  of  Bronwen.  The  urn  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum. 

34.  PAGE  FROM  "  YSTORYAEU  SEINT  GREAL  "  210 

The  Ystoryaeu  Seint  Greal  (Peniarth  MS.  No.  n,  formerly 
Hengwrt  MS.  49)  is  the  earliest  known  Welsh  Graal  MS 
It  is  now  in  the  National  Library  of  Wales,  to  which 
it  (among  other  MSS.  and  books)  was  presented  by 
Sir  John  Williams.  Lady  Charlotte  Guest,  in  her 
Mabinogion,  states  that  this  manuscript  (which  was 
then  at  Hengwrt)  dates  back  to  the  time  of  Henry  I. 
The  manuscript  is  described  in  the  Historical  Manu- 
scripts Commission's  Report  on  Manuscripts  in  the 
Welsh  Language,  vol.  i,  pp.  321-322  (1899),  and  has  been 
edited  and  printed  by  Canon  Williams  in  Selections 
from  the  Hengwrt  Manuscripts,  vol.  i,  Y  Seint  Greal, 
published  in  1876.  The  page  shown  is  f.  26  v.  Re- 
produced by  the  courtesy  of  Sir  John  Williams,  G.C.V.O., 
and  Mr.  John  Ballinger,  M.A. 

35.  THE  BUILDING  OF  HASTINGS  CASTLE  226 

From  the  Bayeux  Tapestry.  Reproduced  in  Archeeologia, 
vol.  Iviii,  p.  323,  from  Vetusta  Monumenta,  vol.  vi. 
Mr.  Round,  in  his  article  The  Castles  of  the  Conquest, 
refers  to  this  as  "  the  priceless  witness  of  the  Bayeux 
Tapestry  "  to  show  that  William  the  Conqueror,  after 
he  landed  in  Bngland,  threw  up  as  defence  works 
mounds  of  the  motte  type. 

36.  CAERPHILLY  CASTLE  234 

From  G.  T.  Clark's  A  Description  of  the  Castles  of  Kidwelly 
and  Caerphilly.  Also  described  in  the  same  writer's 
Medieval  Military  Architecture,  vol.  i,  p.  315.  There 
he  says,  inter  alia  :  "  Caerphilly  is  by  very  much  the 
most  extensive  castle  in  Wales,  and  is  reputed  to  cover, 
with  its  outworks  and  earthworks,  about  thirty  acres." 
An  imaginative  illustration  drawn  by  H.  Gastineau 
appears  in  Woodward's  History  of  Wales,  at  p.  470. 

37.  KIDWELLY  (CYDWELI)  CASTLE  236 

From  G.  T.  Clark's  A  Description  of  the  Castles  of  Kidwelly 
and  Caerphilly.  Also  described  by  the  same  author  in 
his  Medieval  Military  Architecture,  vol.  ii,  p.  153.  The 
castle  stands  from  80  to  100  feet  above  the  river — shown 
to  the  right  of  the  picture — on  the  right  bank.  The 
river-banks  are  here  steep  and  rocky,  a  fact  which  does 
not  sufficiently  appear  in  the  drawing. 

38.  ATTACK  ON  A  CASTLE  238 

The  drawing  shows  the  use  of  the  terebra  in  an  attack  upon 
a  castle,  and  the  means  adopted  to  protect  the  attackers 

xxix 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

PAOE 

from  the  arrows,  Greek  fire,  and  stones  hurled  or  shot 
from  the  castle  walls  or  brattices  by  the  defenders. 
From  In  Feudal  Times,  by  E.  M.  Tappan,  Ph.D. 

39.  PRNMON  CHURCH  AND  PRIORY  256 

Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  on  his  death  left  to  this  Norman  church 
at  Penmon,  among  many  others,  money  for  its  better 
upkeep.  Perhaps  in  his  day  it  was  one  of  those  lime- 
washed  buildings  with  which,  as  his  biographer  puts 
it,  Gwynedd  was  decked  as  is  the  firmament  with  stars. 
The  modern  church  appears  to  be  a  somewhat  common- 
place structure.  The  priory  is  shortly  described  by 
Pennant  in  Tours  in  Wales,  vol.  iii,  p.  35. 

40.  BASINGWERK  ABBEY  262 

This  Cistercian  abbey  was  founded  by  Ranulf  of  Chester  in 
1131.  Originally  a  house  of  the  Order  of  Savigny,  it 
later  became  attached  to  the  Order  of  Citeaux.  If 
Dugdale's  date  be  correct,  it  would  seem  to  have  been  one 
of  the  earliest  of  the  foreign  monasteries  in  Wales.  It 
was  certainly  founded  before  1137. 

41.  THE  GATEWAY,  STRATA  FLORIDA  ABBEY  286 

Ystrad  Fflur  Abbey,  or,  to  give  it  its  latinized  name,  Strata 
Florida — in  English  '  the  Vale  of  Flowers  ' — was 
founded  in  1164  by  the  banks  of  the  Fflur,  on  land 
which  had  been  given  by  Robert  fitz  Stephen.  It  was 
increased  in  wealth  by  the  Irord  Rhys,  as  a  result  of 
which  the  present  building  was  commenced  on  the 
banks  of  the  Teifi.  It  is  probable  that  at  least  one  of 
the  Welsh  chronicles  was  kept  by  the  ecclesiastics  of 
this  religious  house. 

42   GEOFFREY'S  WINDOW,  MONMOUTH  292 

This  window,  now  part  of  the  school  attached  to  the  parish 
church  of  Monmouth,  is  by  tradition  that  of  the  cell 
in  which  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  Milton's  "soothest- 
shepherd,"  whose  claims  to  be  regarded  as  a  serious 
historian  were  finally  destroyed  by  Polydore  Vergil, 
composed  his  British  history.  It  is  described  in 
Archesologia  Cambrensis,  6th  Series,  vol.  ix,  p.  27,  where 
its  period  is  said  to  be  the  fifteenth  century. 

43.  RUINS  OF  THE  BISHOP'S  PALACE,  ST.  DAVID'S  298 

The  palace  has  been  described  as  a  structure  of  a  single  date 
and  style.  Its  founder,  Bishop  Gower,  held  the  see 
from  1328  to  1347.  The  St7le  of  the  palace  is  therefore 
Decorated.  It  has  also  been  said  to  be  unsurpassed 
by  any  existing  English  edifice  of  its  kind.  W.  Basil 
Jones  and  E.  A.  Freeman,  in  their  work  The  History 
and  Antiquities  of  St.  David's,  speak  thus  of  it  :  "One 
can  hardly  conceive  any  structure  that  more  com- 
pletely proclaims  its  peculiar  purpose  ;  it  is  essentially 
a  palace  and  not  a  castle.  .  .  .  The  prominent  points 
XXX 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  FAGB 

are  the  superb  rose-window  of  the  hall,  and  the  graceful 
spire  of  the  chapel,  importing  an  abode,  not  of  warfare, 
but  of  hospitality  and  religion.  Of  domestic  work  so 
strictly  ecclesiastical  but  few  examples  remain." 

44.  LlvANBADARN   FAWR  3O2 

Mediaeval  tradition,  voiced  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  alleged 
that  Llanbadarn  Fawr  was  once  a  cathedral  church. 
E.  A.  Freeman,  however,  in  Avchceologia  Cambrensis 
(3rd  Series,  vol.  ii,  p.  224),  has  appropriately  grouped 
it  among  the  smaller  cruciform  churches.  He  refers 
to  it  as  "  the  noble  fabric  of  I/lanbadarn-fawr,  near 
Aberystwyth."  An  engraving  appears  in  Petit 's  Church 
Architecture. 

45.  CILGERRAN  CASTLE  314 

This  castle  occupies  an  exceedingly  strong  position  upon  a 
high  ridge  of  land  jutting  out  into  the  valley  of  the 
Teifi.  On  one  side  is  a  deep  ravine,  on  the  other  steep 
cliffs.  According  to  Clark,  "  though  it  might  be  called 
technically  an  Edwardian  castle  [it]  was,  like  others, 
of  rather  earlier  date  than  Edward  I."  Of  course  a 
castle  existed  at  Cilgerran  long  before  the  time  of 
Edward  I,  for  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  it 
was  a  stronghold  of  the  Carew  family.  Under  John 
the  lordship  of  Emlyn,  and  with  it  Cilgerran  Castle, 
passed  from  the  Carews,  and  in  1204  we  find  William 
Marshal  obtaining  possession  of  Cilgerran.  Later, 
under  Llywelyn  the  Great,  it  was  granted  to  Maelgwn, 
but  was  regained  by  the  Earl  Marshal  in  1223.  Its 
subsequent  history  is  not  important.  In  1863  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  breastwork  fronting  the  river 
fell  down,  and  later  the  building  was  still  further  ruined 
owing  to  an  immense  fall  of  masonry  consequent  upon 
quarrying  operations  near  by.  It  has  since  been  the 
object  of  a  grant  from  the  Cambrian  ArchaBological 
Association.  Cilgerran  is  not  described  in  either  G.  T. 
Clark's  Medieval  Military  Architecture  or  A.  Hamilton 
Thompson's  Military  Architecture,  but  has  been  shortly 
considered  in  Archcsologia  Cambrensis  (3rd  Series,  vol.  v, 
p.  340  ;  vol.  ix,  p.  345).  It  has  been  the  subject  of  a 
painting  by  Turner. 

46.  SEAL  OF  LLYWELYN  THE  GREAT  318 

Photograph  from  a  cast  of  the  seal,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
Mr.  de  Gray  Birch,  in  his  Catalogue  of  Seals  in  the  British 
Museum,  has  thus  described  it  :  "  Creamy-white  ;  fine, 
but  very  imperfect.  About  3^  in.  when  perfect.  Obv. 
To  the  r.  In  armour  :  hauberk,  surcoat,  round  helmet, 
broad  sword  in  r.  h.  and  scabbard  at  the  waist,  shield 
slung  by  a  strap  over  the  r.  shoulder.  Horse  gallop- 
ing, with  saddle,  breast-band,  and  reins.  [Legend :] 
4-  SIG  .  .  .  WE.  Rev.  A  small  oval  counter-seal. 

xxxi 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 

With  mark  of  the  handle.  i£  x  i  in.  Impression 
of  an  antique  oval  intaglio  gem.  A  boar  passant  to 
the  r.  under  a  tree.  [Legend  :]  +  SIGILLVM  SERCETVM 
It  is  attached  to  Cott.,  ch.  xxiv,  17. 


47.  MONTGOMERY  CASTLE  322 

As  in  the  case  of  many  other  ruins  of  Welsh  castles,  it  is  by 
no  means  certain  what  is  the  precise  history  of  this 
building,  now  fallen  to  decay.  New  Montgomery  was 
built  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  but  old  Montgomery 
has  a  much  more  ancient  history,  having  probably  been 
founded  by  Baldwin  in  the  early  years  of  William  the 
Conqueror's  reign.  Subsequently  Roger  de  Montgomery 
made  it  his  stronghold,  but  toward  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  century  it  was  taken  by  the  Welsh.  It  was 
rebuilt  by  the  Montgomerys,  and  was  subsequently 
frequently  attacked.  The  new  castle,  commenced 
about  October  1223,  was  later  granted  to  Hubert  de 
Burgh.  It  was  taken  by  Llywelyn  the  Great,  and 
in  the  fourteenth  century  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Mortimer  family.  In  the  Civil  Wars  it  was  seized  by 
Sir  Thomas  Myddleton,  and  withstood  a  siege  by  the 
Royalists,  being  subsequently  relieved  by  the  Parlia- 
mentarians after  a  bloody  but  decisive  struggle.  It 
was  later  dismantled,  and  to-day  exists  only  as  a  complete 
ruin. 

48.  THE  COFFIN  OF  LLYWELYN  THE  GREAT,  LLANRWST 

CHURCH  326 

The  Church  of  Llanrwst  (probably  named  after  a  Welsh 
St.  Fergus  or  Grwst)  contains  many  brasses  and  tombs, 
among  others  several  brasses  of  the  Wynn  family  ajid 
the  tomb  of  Howel  Coytmor.  Pennant,  in  his  Tours 
in  Wales  (vol.  ii,  p.  305),  also  tells  us  that  "  in  this 
church  is  preserved  the  stone  coffin  of  Llewelyn  the 
Great,  with  the  sides  curiously  cut  into  quatrefoils. 
That  prince  was  interred  in  Conwy  Abby  ;  but  at  the 
dissolution  the  coffin  was  removed  to  this  place." 

49.  QUEEN  ELEANOR'S  CHAMBER,  CONWAY  CASTLE  344 

Conway  Castle,  built  by  Edward  I,  was  commenced  in  1283, 
and  several  years  were  occupied  in  erecting  it.  It  would 
seem  that  the  window  seen  through  the  archway,  which 
lit  the  chamber  of  Queen  Eleanor,  was  of  painted  glass, 
such  as  is  described  in  the  poem  The  Squire  of  Low  Degree, 
when,  speaking  of  the  King  of  Hungary's  daughter,  the 
poet  says  : 

"  In  her  oryall  there  she  was 

Closyd  well  with  royall  glas  ; 

Fulfylled  yt  was  with  ymagery." 

50.  CAERNARVON  CASTLE  352 

This  castle  was  commenced  a  few  months  after  Conway,  and 
was  probably  designed  by  the  same  architect.     It  has 
xxxii 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  'AGE 

been  described  as  undoubtedly  the  chief  of  the  three 
greatest  military  works  executed  by  Edward  I  (G.  T. 
Clark,  Medieval  Military  Architecture,  vol.  i,  p.  309). 
No  castle  in  Britain  is  more  uniformly  and  skilfully 
designed,  and  none  has  survived  the  ravages  of  Time 
more  successfully.  It  is  built  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Seiont,  near  whose  waters  the  Romans  placed  their 
camp  of  Segontium.  The  castle  gets  its  name  from  the 
fact  that  it  stands  on  the  shores  of  Arvon,  and  it  is 
placed  not  far,  perhaps,  from  the  earlier  Welsh  camp  of 
Caer-yn-Arvon . 

51.  SEAL  OP  EDWARD,  PRINCE  OF  WALES  358 

(Earl  of  Chester,  Count  of  Ponthieu  and  Montreuil,  eldest 
son  of  King  Edward  I,  and  afterward  Edward  II.) 
Photo  from  a  cast  of  the  seal,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
Mr.  de  Gray  Birch,  in  his  Catalogue  of  Seals  in  the  British 
Museum,  thus  describes  it :  "  Plaster  casts,  from  fine 
but  chipped  impression  3!  in.  Ob.  To  the  r.  In 
armour :  hauberk  of  mail,  flowing  surcoat,  helmet 
with  vizor  closed,  fan  plume,  sword,  shield  of  arms 
slung  by  a  strap  over  the  r.  shoulder.  Horse  galloping, 
caparisoned  and  plumed.  Arms,  England,  with  a  label 
of  three  points  of  difference.  [Legend  :]  EDWARDVS 
IU,VSTRIS  REGIS  ANGijE  Fnjvs.  Rev.  Within  a  curved 
rosette  of  eight  semicircular  cusps,  with  a  sunken  trefoil 
in  each  spandril,  and  suspended  by  the  strap  or  guige 
from  an  oak-tree  between  two  slipped  branches  of  the 
same,  a  shield  of  arms  :  England,  with  a  label  of  five 
points.  [Legend :]  [EDJWARDVS  PRINCEPS  +  WAUJE 

OMES  CESTRIE  ET  PONT   .    .    .   IVI." 

52.  THE  MOUND  WHERE  SYCHARTH  STOOD  370 

53.  '  GLYNDWR'S  PRISON/ CARROG  382 

54.  TOMB  OF  SIR  RHYS  AP  THOMAS  394 

In  the  body  of  the  work  we  have  been  able  merely  to  glance 
at  Sir  Rhys,  one  of  Henry  VII's  strongest  supporters, 
who  after  a  full  life  at  court  and  in  the  field  retired 
to  Carew  Castle  to  spend  an  honourable  retirement, 
bearing  with  him  the  signal  honour  of  inclusion  in  the 
Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter.  An  excellent  sketch 
of  this  worthy  from  the  pen  of  the  late  David  Jones  is 
to  be  found  in  Archceologia  Cambrensis,  5th  Series, 
vol.  ix,  pp.  81  et  sea.,  where  the  text  of  his  will  is  also 
given.  We  are  told  that  Sir  Rhys  was,  in  accordance  with 
the  directions  contained  in  his  will,  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  the  Church  of  the  Grey  Friars  at  Caermarthen,  for  he 
had  directed  that  "  fyve  pounds  lands  be  given  to  the 
frdres  of  Karmerdyn  for  a  chantry  then  to  fynd  two  prests 
to  pray  for  me  and  my  wife  for  ever. "  He  also  made  other 
gifts  to  these  friars.  The  subject  of  the  present  illus- 
tration is  the  tomb  which  was  built  in  the  chancel.  It 
bears  the  effigies  of  Sir  Rhys  and  Dame  Jenett,  his  wife, 
who  was  probably  buried  there  with  her  husband. 

c  xxxiii 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

PLAT*  PAGB 

55.  PORTRAIT  OF  HUMPHREY  LLWYD  398 

From  the  picture  in  the  possession  of  Major-General  Sir 
Francis  Lloyd,  D.S.O.,  by  permission.  "  Humphry  Llwyd 
was  the  son  and  heir  of  Robert  Llwyd,  or  Lloyd,  by  Joan, 
daughter  of  Lewis  Pigott.  His  father  was  descended 
from  an  old  family  called  Rosendale,  which  removed 
from  Lancashire  in  1297  to  Foxhall,  near  Denbigh, 
and  acquired  the  name  of  Llwyd  by  an  intermarriage 
with  the  Llwyds  (or  Lloyds)  of  Aston,  near  Oswestry  " 
(Dictionary  of  National  Biography).  For  further  details 
see  the  Note  to  Plate  30.  Humphrey  Llwyd  must  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  Edward  Lhuyd  (some- 
times spelt  '  Llwyd  '),  the  natural  son  of  Edward  Llwyd 
of  Llanvorda,  near  Oswestry,  who  lived  from  1660  to 
1709,  and  was  famous  as  a  Celtic  scholar,  antiquarian, 
and  naturalist. 

56.  OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  SEAL,  SHOWING  FIVE  WELSH 

QUARTERINGS  402 

Photograph  from  a  cast  of  the  seal,  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  Mr.  de  Gray  Birch,  in  his  Catalogue  of  Seals 
in  the  British  Museum,  has  thus  described  it  :  "  Red. 
J  in.  Oval ;  a  shield  of  arms  of  six  quarterings : 
i,  Cromwell;  2,  Caradoc  Vreichfras ;  3,  Collwyn  Ap- 
Tangno,  Lord  of  Efionydd ;  4,  lestyn  Ap-Gwrgant. 
Prince  of  Glamorgan ;  5,  Madoc  Ap-Meredith,  last 
Prince  of  Powys  ;  6,  Murfyn.  Crest  on  helmet,  wreath, 
and  mantling,  a  demi-lion  rampant,  holding  fleur-de-lis." 
See  also  Henfrey's  Numismata  Cromwelliana. 

57.  HARLECH  CASTLE  404 

Harlech  is  a  concentric  castle  of  the  Edwardian  type,  and, 
standing  as  it  does  on  a  bold  and  rugged  headland  of 
rock  which  once  jutted  out  into  the  sea,  it  must  have 
been  an  extremely  difficult  fortress  to  reduce  before 
the  days  of  gunpowder.  The  south-west  tower  bears 
the  name  of  Bronwen,  the  Welsh  heroine  already  referred 
to  in  the  note  to  Plate  33.  The  castle  is  described  at 
length  in  G.  T.  Clark's  Medieeval  Military  Architecture 
(vol.  ii,  p.  74).  See  also  Timbs'  Abbeys.  Castles,  and 
Ancient  Halls  of  England  and  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  457, 
where  it  is  stated  that  the  site  was  previously  occupied 
by  a  British  fortress  called  Twr  Bronwen.  The  present 
castle  was  probably  built  by  Edward  I  some  time  about 
1286. 

58.  THE  INVESTITURE  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES  AT 

CARNARVON  CASTLE  406 

It  was  on  Thursday,  July  13,  1911.  that  Edward,  seventh 
of  his  name  to  bear  the  title,  was  made  and  created 
Prince  of  Wales  and  Earl  of  Chester.  For  the  first 
time  an  English  prince  addressed  the  Welsh  people  in 
their  native  tongue,  and  for  the  first  time  an  English 
xxxiv 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PACK 

prince  was  formally  invested  with  the  insignia  of  his 
high  office  in  Wales  itself.  The  ceremony  took  place 
at  Carnarvon  Castle,  where  from  the  Queen's  Gate 
tradition  has  it  that  the  first  English  Prince  of  Wales,  then 
a  baby,  was  presented  to  the  somewhat  sulky  populace. 
Now,  more  than  six  centuries  later,  the  people  gathered 
in  their  thousands  from  all  parts  of  the  Principality 
to  show  their  goodwill  toward  the  young  Prince  and 
the  Throne. 

By  Order  in  Council  proclaimed  on  February  4,  191 1,  it 
was  provided  that  the  arms  of  the  Prince  would  include  the 
arms  of  Wales.  ' '  Quarterly  or  andgules,  four  lions  passant 
guardant  counterchanged."  The  Prince's  arms  now 
consist  of  the  Royal  Arms  differenced  by  the  Prince  of 
Wales'  label,  and  charged  in  the  centre  with  an  in- 
escutcheon  of  the  arms  of  Wales  (Llywelyn's) ,  instead 
of  the  arms  of  Saxony.  The  inescutcheon  is  ensigned 
with  the  Prince's  coronet  to  show  that  the  arms  are 
territorial,  not  personal.  A  dragon  gu.,  the  ensign  of 
Cadwaladr,  is  one  of  the  badges. 

59.  CROMLECH  NEAR  THE  ROMAN  ROAD  BETWEEN  ABER 

AND  ROE  WEN  410 

60.  UNINSCRIBED  BRITISH  COINS  414 

61.  INSCRIBED  BRITISH  COINS  416 

62.  ROMANO-BRITISH  COINS  418 

63.  WELSH  AND  NORMAN- WELSH  COINS  420 

ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  TEXT 

FORMS  OF  SOLAR  SHIPS  24 

THE  GRAVE  PIT,  AYLESFORD  46 

ROMAN  STRIGILS  57 

PLAN  OF  A  ROMAN  FORT  AT  HOUSESTEADS,  ON  HADRIAN'S 

WALL  58 

DRAWING  OF  A  RUDE  FORM  OF  PLOUGH  117 

PLAN  OF  CARDIFF  CASTLE  230 

PLAN  f  OF  I/UDLOW  CASTLE  232 

PLAN  OF  CAERPHILLY  CASTLE  IN  1842  235 

XXXV 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


PACE 


CATAPULT  240 

Designed  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  From  his  //  Codica 
Atlantico. 

UNUSUAL  TYPE  OF  BALLISTA  241 

Shaped  in  the  form  of  an  immense  bow  and  arrow.  Designed 
by  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  From  his  //  Codica  Atlantico. 

THE  TREBUCHET  242 

Showing  the  manner  in  which  the  propulsive  force  was 
obtained  by  dropping  a  heavy  weight.  From  In 
Feudal  Times,  by  E.  M.  Tappan,  Ph.D. 

OWAIN  GLYNDWR'S  GREAT  SEAL  378 

OWAIN  GLYNDWR'S  PRIVY  SEAL  378 

GROUND  PLANS  OF  CHAMBERED  LONG  BARROWS,  AND  OF 

CHAMBERS  CONTAINED  IN  THEM  410 

LONG    BARROW    WITH    PERISTALITH    AND    WALLING 

RESTORED  411 

BELL-SHAPED  ROUND  BARROW  413 

DISK-SHAPED  ROUND  BARROW  413 

BOWL-SHAPED  ROUND  BARROW  413 

ROUND  BARROW  BURIAL,  SHOWING  SKELETON  PROTECTED 

BY  A  COVERING  OF  STONES  414 

THE  CRWTH  423 

THE  PIB-CORN  424 


XXXVI 


CHAPTER  I 
ORIGINS 

A  FEW  years  ago  history  was  based  on  evidence  purely 
documentary,  or  at  least  on  legends,  which,  owing 
to  their  generality  or  their  inherent  probability,  had 
been  treated  for  a  long  time  as  containing  true  germs  of  history, 
although  transmitted  from  man  to  man  by  word  of  mouth 
in  the  form  of  a  story  or  a  poem.  To-day  history,  even  a 
short  and  simple  history  having  no  pretension  to  complete- 
ness, would  be  regarded  as  imperfect  if  it  failed  to  take  note 
of  those  dim,  remote  ages,  until  lately  called  prehistoric,  which 
are  gradually,  by  the  aid  of  the  pickaxe  of  the  excavator  and 
the  studies  of  the  ethnologist,  philologist,  and  astronomer, 
being  brought  nearer  and  nearer  to  us  in  living,  though  not, 
of  course,  in  mathematical  time. 

Excavations  which  have  been  made  in  caves  and  river- 
beds and  elsewhere  have  brought  to  light  the  remains  of  a 
race  which  inhabited  the  island  of  which  Wales  forms  a  part 
tens  of  thousands  of  years  ago.  For  convenience  and  to  hide 
our  ignorance  we  term  this  race  Palaeolithic  man.  Of  him  we 
need  say  nothing  save  that  he  hunted  with  stone  implements 
of  a  rude  sort,  that  he  was  a  drawer  of  pictures,  that  he  was 
a  savage  knowing  no  culture — a  cave-dweller  who  lived  on 
his  cunning  as  a  hunter  rather  than  on  his  skill  as  a  tiller  of 
the  soil  or  as  a  shepherd  of  flocks.  An  account  of  Palaeolithic 
man,  though  not  impossible,  is  undesirable  in  this  history,  since 
between  him  and  us  lies  the  Glacial  period,  which,  without 
doubt,  swept  away  completely  and  for  thousands  of  years  all 
traces  of  human  life  from  that  part  of  the  world  which  lies 
north  of  the  Thames.  No  particle  of  Palaeolithic  blood  can 

A  I 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

turn  to  life  one  thought  in  any  man  who  lives  in  England  or 
in  Wales  to-day.  The  same  cannot  be  said  of  Neolithic  man. 
From  his  entry  on  the  stage  of  history  the  story  is  a  con- 
tinuous one.  Atavism  doubtless  places  him  occasionally 
in  our  midst  to-day.  Competent  authorities  have,  indeed, 
suggested  that  the  modern  Frenchman  is  nearer  akin  in 
temperament  to  the  Neolithic  than  to  the  Gallic  race.  In  the 
same  way  the  Welshman  of  to-day  can  trace  himself  back 
to  pre-Celtic  times.  With  this  race,  therefore,  our  history 
must  commence. 

NEOLITHIC  MAN 

The  men  of  the  New  Stone  Age  came  into  this  island  some 
time,  we  know  not  when,  after  the  ice  had  receded  to  the 
normal  north.  The  influx  is  to  be  assigned,  not  to  a  year, 
but  to  centuries  or  millenniums  of  years.  All  through  our 
account  of  this  period  it  must  be  remembered  that  man  was 
ever  changing,  possibly  ever  progressing.  Tribes  rose  to 
power  and  fell  into  servitude.  Races  died  out  or  merged 
with  other  races.  The  period  which  elapsed  between  the 
commencement  and  the  end  of  the  Neolithic  period  is  greater 
than  that  which  separates  the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid  from 
the  bridging  of  the  Menai  Strait.  Notwithstanding  this,  how- 
ever, it  is  necessary  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge 
to  treat  the  period  as  though  it  extended  over  but  a  few 
years.  We  must  regard  the  age,  for  the  purpose  of  description, 
as  one  which  knew  not  change. 

From  the  remains  which  have  been  found  in  burial- 
places,  cromlechs,  barrows,  caves,  and  elsewhere,  we  shall 
attempt  later  on  a  description  of  Neolithic  culture.  Before 
doing  so,  however,  it  is  desirable  to  put  shortly  before  the  reader 
the  various  steps  in  the  genealogy  of  the  Welsh  race  from  the 
post-Glacial  period  up  to  the  commencement  of  the  Roman 
invasion. 

The  earliest  ancestors  were,  as  we  have  said,  Neolithic  man. 
The  earlier  members  of  this  group  would  seem  to  have  been 
short  men  whose  average  height  was  not  more  than  5  feet 

2 


ORIGINS 

4  inches.1  Their  heads  were  long  and  narrow  and  the  cast  of 
face  mild.  Even  before  bronze  was  introduced — that  is  to 
say,  before  2000  B.C. — they  were  conquered  by  a  broad-headed 


COAST-VNE  OF  WAI.ES  IN  THE  NEOLITHIC  AGE 

(A.  Sarn  Badrig) 

From  Archtsologia  Cambrensis,  by  permission  of  the  Cambrian 
Archaeological  Association. 

race  who  were  thick-set  but  short  in  stature.  These  in  turn 
were  conquered,  possibly  shortly  after  the  introduction  of 
bronze,  by  a  round-headed  people  of  robust  build,  tall  and 

1  The  women's  average  height  was  4  feet  10  inches.  This  suggests  that 
they  were  the  'hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,'  a  stunted  growth 
showing  a  hard  life. 

3 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

savage-looking.  All  this  had  happened  long  before  the  Goidels— 
the  earlier  branch  of  the  Celtic  race — had  removed  westward 
from  the  Continent  to  Britain.  These  Goidels,  the  direct 
ancestors  of  the  modern  Gael,  first  crossed  the  western  strait 
in  about  the  middle  of  the  Bronze  Age — that  is  to  say,  about 
1000  B.C.,  or  perhaps  later.  They  in  turn  were  followed  and 
dispossessed  of  southern  Britain  by  the  Brythons,  the  direct 
ancestors  of  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  modern  Wales,  shortly 
after  the  commencement  of  the  Iron  Age.  The  period  of  their 
coming  is  generally  assigned  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.  It 
was  this  people  who  ruled  in  Britain,  at  least  in  southern 
Britain,  when  Caesar  stepped  on  to  our  shores. 

Having  shortly  described  the  races  which  honoured  this 
island  with  their  presence  in  those  early  times,  it  is  desirable 
to  retrace  our  steps  and  consider  generally  their  nature.  In 
the  account  which  follows  we  group  the  first  three  races  under 
one  head.  We  thus  make  the  tripartite  division  of  Neolithic 
man,  the  Goidel,  the  Brython. 

THE  PRE-GOIDELIC  RACES 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  difficulty  to  decide  of  what  race  the 
men  were  who  inhabited  Britain  before  the  Goidel  came. 
Sometimes  the  word  Pict  is  used.  This  term  is  not,  however, 
very  satisfactory,  since  it  means  simply  a  painted  man — as 
does  Scotti l — and  refers  to  the  custom  of  the  inhabitants  of 
south-eastern  Britain  in  Caesar's  time,  who  tattooed  them- 
selves with  figures  of  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes.  When  Caesar 
referred  to  woad-painted  men  he  was  talking  of  Brythons, 
and  clearly  distinguished  between  these  Brythons  and  the 
men  of  the  hinterland,  whom  he  described  as  a  pastoral, 
nomadic  people,  having  their  wives  in  common,  and  living 
in  a  state  of  complete  barbarity.  Whether  Caesar  was  quite 
just  to  them  in  this  last  particular  we  shall  have  to  consider. 

From  what  we  have  said,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  terms 
Picts  and  Scots  are  unfortunate  expressions.  They  are  made 
more  so  by  the  fact  that  in  later  times  they  acquired  a  specialized 

1  Now  doubted  ;   possibly  Scotti  =  'the  Ancient  People.' 


PLATE  I.     FIGURINE  DE  BRASSEMPOUY 

From  "  L'Art  Celtiqite,"  byM.  Kcessler 
de  Graville  (Librairie  Chas.  Foulard,  Paris) 


ORIGINS 

meaning,  referring  to  the  men  of  Caledonia  and  Ireland.  We 
shall  therefore  in  the  remaining  part  of  this  chapter  abandon 
the  use  of  these  terms  and  refer  to  the  Semitic l  race. 

The  researches  of  Sir  Norman  I,ockyer  and  his  band  of 
helpers  into  the  astronomical  significance  of  Stonehenge  and 
the  other  circles  of  Britain,  together  with  the  independent 
mathematical  investigation  carried  on  by  B.  M.  Nelson  at 
Hestinsgarth  in  the  Shetlands  and  elsewhere,  taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  philological  discovery  made  by  Professor 
Morris  Jones  that  Welsh  is  exactly  paralleled  so  far  as  its 
syntax  is  concerned  with  Egyptian  and  Berber  and  the  pre- 
Celtic  languages  of  the  Hamitic  family — allied  to  the  Semitics 
— have  proved,  we  think  conclusively,  that  from  about  3600  B.C. 
at  latest  Britain  was  inhabited  by  a  race  connected  by  blood 
with  the  Babylonians  or  Egyptians  and  in  close  contact  until 
at  least  1300  B.C.  with  Egyptian  culture  and  Egyptian  priest- 
craft. The  subject  being  an  interesting  one,  and  one  which 
has  only  received  attention  within  very  recent  years,  we 
shall  consider  the  matter  at  some  length  in  the  chapter  follow- 
ing. For  our  present  purposes  it  is  desirable  to  add  that  the 
evidence  of  folk-stories,  superstitions,  and  legends,  together 
with  the  researches  before  mentioned,  suggest  that  these 
people  were  a  stone-using  people  ;  that  they  inhabited  well- 
nigh  the  whole  world  from  the  Himalayas  to  the  Orkneys, 
excepting  Scandinavia,  Germany,  and  Russia  ;  that  they  were 
skilled  in  mathematics  and  astronomy  and  worshipped  Baal 
and  Astarte  or  Venus.  They  were  non-Celtics,  and  were 
possibly  a  matriarchal  and  not  a  patriarchal  people. 

Professor  Rhys  has  pointed  out  that  the  Mabinogi  of  Math 
is  explicable  only  on  the  supposition  that  inheritance  was 
traced  through  the  mother  and  not  through  the  father.  This 
Mabinogi  of  Math,  one  of  the  stories  from  the  Red  Book  of 
Hergest,  is,  so  far  as  the  manuscript  is  concerned,  a  compara- 
tively late  production,  dating  after  the  Norman  Conquest,  yet 
the  story  itself  would  seem  to  go  back  to  very  early  times. 
One  of  the  most  astonishing  things  which  modern  research  is 

1  We  use  this  word  in  the  conventional  sense  explained  at  p.  xi. 

5 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

revealing  is  the  length  of  folk-memory.  Cotton  rags  were  being 
tied  to  trees  near  wells  in  Wales  within  recent  years.  Last 
century  in  Persia  a  tree  was  seen  covered  with  rags  close  to  a 
large  monolith.  The  same  observances  have  been  noted  in 
Ceylon.  The  practice  goes  back  to  the  worship  of  Baal  and 
is  referred  to  in  the  Old  Testament.  Near  Carnac  com- 
paratively recently  a  practice  similar  to  one  common  to  the 
builders  of  circles  in  Britain  and  in  America  of  running  naked 
round  the  circle  on  the  ist  of  May  was  observed.  Recently 
small  boys  did  the  same  at  Stirling,  in  Scotland.  Many  other 
examples  could  be  added,  and  the  whole  evidence  accumulated 
proves,  we  think,  almost  as  conclusively  as  is  possible  short 
of  absolute  demonstration  that  the  pre-Goidelics  were,  in  the 
main,  a  non-Celtic  people  of  the  Semitic  or  Hamitic  race, 
possibly  matriarchal,1  in  touch  with  the  East,  worshipping 
Baal,  and  extending  over  the  whole  of  these  islands  even  to 
the  Shetlands.  The  same  conclusions  to  a  considerable  extent 
are  arrived  at  when  we  consider  pre-Celtic  inscriptions — what 
Sir  John  Rhys  calls  Pictish  inscriptions.2 

THE  LIFE  OF  NEOLITHIC  MAN 

When  we  seek  to  describe  the  life  of  the  people,  the  difficulty 
which  assails  us  springs  out  of  the  diversity  of  the  material 
on  which  to  work  rather  than  upon  absence  of  facts.  We 
could  take  the  reader  on  to  Salisbury  Plain,  then  the  chief 
centre  of  the  worship  of  the  sun,  and  on  the  ist  of  May  bid  him 
observe  the  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  who  had 
gathered  there  as  to  a  sacred  place  to  pay  their  devotions  to 
the  summer  sun.  There  in  the  dawn  we  might  have  heard 
music  ascending  to  heaven  from  their  temple  to  Apollo  or  to 
Baal,  while  priests  made  sacrifices  to  their  gods  that  the 
harvests  might  be  good.  Or  we  could  transport  him  to  some 
eminence  from  whence  to  watch  the  building  of  a  tomb. 
Across  the  plain  we  should  have  seen  thousands  of  slaves 

1  The  couvade  survived  in  Ireland  and  Yorkshire  as  late  as  Christian  times. 
This  is  neither  an  Aryan  nor  a  Semitic  custom. 

*  The  actual  cutting  of  these  dates,  of  course,  after  the  Roman  invasion. 

6 


^PIF! 


ORIGINS 

toiling  with  ropes  and  logs  of  wood,1  pulling  or  lifting  the 
heavy  stones  which  went  to  line  these  burial-places ;  mean- 
while priestly  architects  mark  out  the  places  into  which  the 
sacred  stones  must  be  placed.  Little  by  little  the  mighty 
edifice  is  raised,  covered  with  earth,  and  completed.  Had  we 
been  of  the  priestly  class,  we  should  have  known  how  to 
design  the  entrance  tunnel  so  that  the  dead,  sitting  in  state 
facing  the  east,  should  at  the  last,  when  his  spirit  awoke, 
welcome  the  sun  as  it  rose  in  the  sky.  We  should  have  known 
that  the  broken  weapons  lying  around,  the  food  jars  and 
domestic  appliances,  were  there  to  welcome  in  spirit  the  soul 
of  the  dead.  The  sword  must  be  broken  or  killed,  so  that  its 
spirit  could  welcome  its  master.  We  should  have  known  how 
to  plant  the  encircling  stones,  the  meaning  of  those  spiral 
markings,  those  solar  ships,  the  countless  curious  signs  marked 
on  the  walls  of  these  sanctuaries. 

The  tomb  is  raised.  The  funeral  rites  must  now  be  observed. 
It  may  be  that  the  priests  headed  the  procession,  swinging 
incense  cups ;  then  came  the  corpse  and  the  mourners.2  Perhaps 
a  few  favourite  slaves  were  driven  manacled  to  the  funeral 
pyre  on  which  they  were  to  be  sacrificed,  so  that  the 
spirits  of  the  under- world  might  be  propitiated.3  After  the 
interment,  which  was  doubtless  marked  by  many  sacred 
ceremonies,  a  feast  was  held  by  the  surviving  kin.  Then  at 

1  The  details  given  are  all  based  on  definite  evidence.  We  choose 
for  description  the  most  typical  events  and  daily  doings  of  those  times. 
The  period  we  are  describing  may  be  fixed  approximately  at  2000  B.C.  That 
music  was  part  of  the  service  at  Stonehenge  is  to  some  extent  a  matter 
of  imagination,  but  our  account  is  based  on  Hecataeus  of  Abdera,  who, 
however,  was  describing  the  Celts  in  a  Western  island  before  300  B.C.  As 
we  shall  see,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  their  religion  came  to  them 
from  the  more  ancient  inhabitants.  As  to  the  tombs,  Rice  Holmes  has 
said :  "  The  immense  toil  which  must  have  been  expended  in  constructing 
such  [monuments]  by  labourers  who  had  only  deer-horn  picks  and  stone 
tools  proves  not  only  density  of  population,  effective  organization,  and  the 
despotism  which  the  chiefs  must  have  exercised,  but  also  a  religious  awe,  the 
compelling  force  of  which  we,  who  live  in  a  world  that  has  grown  old,  can 
hardly  conceive." 

*  As  to  this  order  there  is  practically  no  evidence. 

8  Whether  suttee  practices  were  common  is  a  matter  about  which  there 
is  grave  doubt. 

7 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

last  the  dead,  clothed  in  its  linen  shift,1  was  left  alone  to  await 
the  awakening.  The  entrance  hall  was  not  closed  ;  a  stone 
slab  was  placed  at  the  mouth,  pierced  in  the  centre  by  a  large 
hole  through  which  the  dead  could  see  the  sun,  or  through 
which  its  spirit  could  escape. 2 

Passing  from  these  religious  rites,  let  us  go  down  the  Brandon 
Flint  Mines.  Here  again  we  could  have  seen  an  important 
and  typical  part  of  the  life  of  Neolithic  man.  Descending  the 
rope  which  probably  led  down  the  shaft,  armed  with  a  deer- 
horn  pick,  we  could  have  mined  the  flints  even  as  to-day  they 
are  got  by  the  flint-workers  of  the  district.  We  could  have 
passed  down  workings  like  those  of  a  modern  coal-mine, 
carrying  a  lamp  to  guide  us  made  of  rough  clay  filled  with 
a  wick  and  tallow.3  Coming  again  to  the  surface,  we  could 
have  gone  to  the  neighbouring  factory  of  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant cutlers  in  Britain.  On  the  way  we  might  have  passed 
herdsmen  following  cattle  on  the  downs,  or  "  lithe,  swarthy 
hunters  returning  from  the  chase,"  stopping  perchance  at  some 
round  hut  to  purchase  a  bowl  of  milk  with  a  piece  of  venison.4 
Arriving  at  our  destination,  we  could  have  seen  some  of  the 
foremost  craftsmen  chipping  with  hammers  of  flint  the  stones, 
but  lately  gamed  from  the  neighbouring  mines,  into  axes 
and  chisels,  hammers,  reapers,  arrow-heads,  lance-heads,  and 
the  hundred  and  one  objects  necessary  to  the  fighter  and 
hunter  and  farmer  in  those  times.5 

Had  we  journeyed  all  over  Britain  we  should  have  found 

1  Carbonized  remains  of  linen  which  have  come  down  to  us  belong  to  a 
somewhat  later  period. 

•  Neolithic  tombs  were  long,  long-chambered,  or  round.     The  round  ones 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  later  round  heaps  of  stone  or  earth  wliich 
contain  a  few  cinerary  urns  or  perhaps  a  skeleton,  and  which  belong  to 
the    Brythonic  period  or  later.      If  a  cinerary   urn   is  found  it  generally 
points  to  an  early  Celtic  or  Bronze  Age  burial.     The  peoples  of  the  Bronze 
Age  practised  cremation.      Neolithic  men  did  not,  as  a  rule ;   they  interred 
their  dead.     See  further  Note  A. 

•  These  have  been  picked  up  in  some  of  the  ancient  workings. 

«  The  teeth  of  Neolithic  man  point  to  a  diet  mainly  composed  of  milk  and 
meat. 

•  For  an  excellent  description  of  the  tools,  implements,  and  ornament  used 
in  Neolithic  times  reference  may  be  made  to  Rice  Holmes's  Ancient  Britain. 
When  he  comes  to  describe  the  people  and  their  religion  we  believe  that  he 
regards  them  as  being  in  a  more  backward  state  than  they  really  were 

8 


PIRATE  III.  FINELY  WORKED  STONE  HAMMER-HEAD 


8 


ORIGINS 

many  tribes  and  clans  of  different  races.  We  should  have 
witnessed  many  tribal  wars,  some  on  a  petty,  some  on  a  large 
scale.  We  should  have  found  a  considerable  population,  all,  or 
nearly  all,  living  in  small  houses,  in  a  simple  manner,  depending 
rather  on  the  chase  and  on  pasturage  than  on  agriculture 
for  their  living.  All  these  people  we  should  have  found 
highly  superstitious  and  completely  dominated  by  the  priestly 
class,  who,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  as  we  have  said  and  as 
we  shall  see,  were  men  of  considerable  learning  who  could 
write  and  could  calculate. 

THE  BRONZE-USERS 

As  time  went  on  metal  was  introduced.  How  the  dis- 
covery was  made  we  do  not  know.  All  we  can  say  is  that 
bronze  was  known  in  Egypt  3700  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  that  it  was  probably  introduced  into  Britain  from 
Europe  by  traders,  not  Phoenician,1  working  along  the  western 
trade  routes,  some  time  about  2000  B.C.2 

At  first  it  must  have  been  extremely  precious,  and  doubtless 
did  not  oust  the  old  stone  implements  from  general  use  for 
many  years.  The  change  from  stone  to  bronze  cannot  alone 
account  for  the  conquest  of  the  earlier  people  by  the  tall, 
round-headed  men  who,  as  we  have  said,  came  into  Britain 
shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  metal  age.  Bronze 
was  still  the  rare  possession  of  kings  and  chiefs  when  they  came. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  new-comers  exterminated 
the  older  population.  As  we  have  seen,  Neolithic  man  lived 
here  in  considerable  numbers,  and  has  not  improbably  formed 
the  main  substratum  of  the  Welsh  race  from  ancient  to  modem 
times.  As  Dr.  Rice  Holmes  has  said  when  speaking  of  this 
invasion  :  "In  Wiltshire  and  other  parts  of  southern  Britain 
the  old  population  would  seem  to  have  been  largely  dis- 
possessed or  subdued  ;  but  the  skeletons  found  in  the  barrows 
of  Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire,  of  Yorkshire  and  the  other 
Northern  counties,  indicate  that  there  the  immigrants  mingled 

1  The  Phoenician  theory  has  long  been  abandoned. 

1  Different  dates  have  been  assigned.  Evans  fixes  the  Bronze  Age  in 
Britain  at  1400-1200  B.C.  We  follow  the  majority. 

9 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

more  or  less  peacefully  with  the  people  whom  they  came 
among."  Long  after  they  came,  flint  weapons — arrow-heads, 
spear-heads,  etc. — were  in  common  use. 

In  course  of  time  mines  were  opened.  Ireland  became 
even  in  the  Bronze  Age  one  of  the  most  important  centres  of 
the  Northern  gold-mining  industry.1  Copper  was  mined  in 
Cardiganshire,  Anglesey,  and  near  Llandudno ;  tin  mixed  with 
lead  came  from  Cornwall,  where  also  copper-mines  were  worked. 
With  the  development  of  metal-work  the  taste  for  personal 
adornment  also  appears  to  have  grown.  The  wealth  of  the 
people  seems  to  have  increased  and  the  lot  of  the  women 
became  more  happy.  Both  the  men  and  women  of  the  Bronze 
Age  liked  finery.  In  the  barrows  and  hut-circles  of  the  period 
remains  have  been  found  of  all  kinds  of  bronze  implements, 
including  even  razors  ;  of  clothing  of  leather,  of  linen,  and  of 
wool ;  as  well  as  ivory,  bone,  and  bronze  pins  ;  jet,  amber,  and 
glass  ornaments  ;  jet  buttons,  some  being  beautifully  engraved, 
others  made  of  stone  or  bone  or  wood,  and  most  of  them  pierced 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  thread  did  not  show  through. 
Buttons  were  apparently  used  by  men  only,  the  women  content- 
ing themselves  with  pins  and  brooches  of  bronze, bone,  and  ivory. 
Some  of  the  bronze  daggers  had  handles  exquisitely  worked. 
One  which  has  been  found  had  a  wooden  handle  beautifully 
inlaid  in  a  chevron  pattern  with  thousands  of  golden  rivets, 
each  smaller  than  the  smallest  pin.  In  one  Welsh  tomb  were 
found  the  remains  of  a  knight  who  had  had  his  horse  furnished 
with  golden  trappings.  Long  before  that  barrow  was  opened, 
yet  as  late  as  last  century,  a  legend  was  current  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood that  a  warrior  in  golden  armour  was  to  be  seen 
riding  slowly  round  the  mound. 

Besides  amber  and  jet  ornaments  the  women  2  wore  orna- 
ments of  gold,  gold  brooches,  gold  and  ivory  armlets.  Rings, 
however,  and  ear-rings  were  rare.  Sometimes  it  is  evident 
that  sham  jewellery  was  purchased.  Just  as  to-day  some 
people,  delighting  in  pearls,  being  unable  to  purchase  the  real 

1  The  South  relied  upon  the  Rhodesian  mines. 
*  The  men,  of  course,  were  equally  vain. 
10 


PLATE  IV.     BRONZE  PALSTAVE,  TORC,  ARMLETS,  AND  RINGS  FOUND  ON 

HOLWNGBURY    HlLL,    NEAR    STANMER,    SUSSEX  IO 


ORIGINS 

ones,  are  content  with  imitation,  so  in  the  past  vitreous  paste 
beads  were  bought  instead  of  real  glass  ones.  In  the  same 
way,  '  gold-filled '  rings  made  of  bronze  gilded  were  worn  by 
people  whose  means  prevented  them  from  buying  those  of 
solid  gold.  Many  things  have  changed  since  then,  but  human 
nature  remains  the  same. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  facts  belonging  to  this  time 
was,  however,  the  disparity  between  the  richness  of  the  people's 
dress  and  the  discomfort  of  their  homes.  As  Dr.  Rice  Holmes, 
speaking  of  the  Heathery  Burn  cave,  says  :  "  Here  was  a  family 
well  armed,  equipped  with  the  best  tools  of  the  time,  owning 
flocks  and  herds,  and  rich  enough  to  load  their  women  with 
ornaments,  yet  content  to  live  in  a  dark,  damp  cavern  traversed 
by  a  stream,  which  one  night  rose  in  flood  and  drowned  them 
in  their  sleep.  .  .  .  That  they  inhabited  it,  if  not  permanently,1 
at  least  for  long  periods,  is  proved  by  the  abundance  of  pottery 
as  well  as  by  the  heaps  of  refuse,  which  represented  the  remains 
of  a  long  succession  of  meals."  Though,  of  course,  the  majority 
of  the  men  of  the  Bronze  Age  did  not  live  in  caves,  they  prob- 
ably lived  in  rude  huts,  possibly,  in  some  cases,  in  construc- 
tions similar  in  design  to  the  tombs. 

As  time  passed  the  wealth,  though  not  of  necessity  the 
culture,  of  the  people  increased.  They  were  still  mainly 
pastoral.  They  were  still  divided  into  many  clans.  The  old 
religion  seems  to  have  weakened  or  to  have  changed.  The 
priestly  class  still  retained,  however,  much  of  its  influence. 
Fighting  was  probably  frequent,  and  the  wonderful  '  forts '  2 
scattered  up  and  down  the  country  show  an  advance  in 
military  skill. 

THE  GOIDELS 

It  was  while  Britain  was  in  this  stage  of  development  that 
the  Goidels  first  appear  upon  the  scene. 

A  fierce  war  has  raged  for  some  years  now  as  to  the  relation- 

1  They  may,  of  course,  have  been  refugees.    This  would  account  for  their 
having  their  valuables  around  them. 

2  Of  which  Maiden  Castle  is  the  most  famous. 

II 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

ship  between  the  Goidels  and  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  Britain. 
Sir  John  Rhys  believes  that  the  Goidels  came  west,  following  the 
general  lines  of  the  Aryan  advance.  Professor  Kuno  Meyer, 
on  the  other  hand,  holds  a  very  definite  opinion  that  the 
Goidels  came  from  Ireland.  He  says :  "  Whether  we  take 
history  for  our  guide,  or  native  tradition,  or  philology,  we 
are  led  to  no  other  conclusion  but  this  :  that  no  Gael  ever  set 
foot  on  British  soil  save  from  a  vessel  that  had  put  out  from 
Ireland."  We  should  have  thought,  from  the  nature  of  the 
authorities,  that  this  was  putting  the  case  much  too  high. 
There  are  at  least  some  grounds  for  believing  that  the  Goidels 
came  west  with  the  general  Aryan  movement,  conquered  the 
aboriginals  of  Britain,  and  were  subsequently  driven  west 
and  north  by  the  Brythons.  It  is  clear  that  the  Megalithic 
people  inhabited  Ireland,  and  went  there  from  Europe.  It  can 
hardly  be  contended  that  they  found  there  the  Aryan  Celts  of 
the  Goidelic  race.  If  the  Celts  came  later  than  the  Megalithic 
people  of  the  Neolithic  age,  as  they  almost  certainly  did,  we 
can  see  no  reason  whatever  why  the  Goidels  should  pass  over 
Britain  and  go  straight  to  Ireland.1  These  obvious  objections 
Professor  Kuno  Meyer  seeks  to  escape  mainly,  we  believe,  by 
showing  that  from  A.D.  270  onward  there  were  many  raids 
from  Ireland  directed  against  the  Welsh  or  Brythons.  He  points 
out  that  the  eighth-century  tale  of  Indarba  mna  nDesi  tells  us 
how  the  Desi,  an  Irish  tribe,  having  been  defeated  by  Cormac 
MacAirt,  left  their  old  holdings  and  went  in  part  under  the 
leadership  of  Eochaid,  son  of  Artchorp,  to  Dyfed  (South 
Wales),  and  remained  permanently  there.  This  of  course 
explains  the  presence  of  Gaels  in  South  Wales.  It  does  not 
prove  that  there  were  no  Gaels  in  Britain  before.  It  does  not 
help  us  very  much  with  the  condition  of  affairs  in  1000  B.C. 
Nor  does  the  fact,  if  fact  it  be,  that  Ogham  writing  was  in- 
vented in  Ireland.  Granted  that  the  barrows  in  Britain  have 
yielded  no  Goidelic  skeletons,  we  must  remember  that  the 
presupposed  time  of  their  coming  here  synchronizes  with 
cremation  burial.  In  short,  all  the  evidence  that  we  have 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  sea  journeys  were'made  coastwise. 
12 


PLATE    V.     (i)  BRONZE    PAN  12 

(2)  THIN  BRONZE  VESSEL,  PROBABLY  USED  AS  A  WATER-CLOCK 


ORIGINS 

seen  put  forward  leaves  us  quite  unconverted  to  the  view 
advanced  with  such  assurance  by  Professor  Kuno  Meyer.1 

For  our  present  purpose  the  matter  is  really  not  of  great 
importance.  That  the  Goidel  has  joined  in  at  one  time  or 
another  to  form  the  Welsh  nationality  of  to-day  is  admitted. 
That  after  the  Stone  Age  there  was  a  Bronze  Age,  and  that 
the  Goidels,  whether  of  Britain  or  Ireland,  were  at  that  time 
in  that  stage  of  culture  is  granted.  It  therefore  matters 
little  whether  we  call  the  men  of  the  latter  part  of  the  Bronze 
Age  in  Britain  Goidels  or  something  else.  The  facts  that 
are  of  leading  importance  to  us  are  these  :  From  our  early 
times,  from  the  commencement  of  the  Bronze  Age,  a  new  race 
appears.  As  time  goes  on  this  race  is  followed  by  another. 
Neither  of  these  new-comers  exterminated  the  older  settlers. 
The  old  Semitic  race  was  never  overwhelmed  ;  the  old  religion, 
though  doubtless  modified  in  many  ways,  continued  ;  the  old 
practices  continued ;  the  old  worship  of  Baal,  of  wells,  of 
sacred  trees  and  fountains  continued ;  old  stories  going  back 
to  pre-Celtic  times  live  on.  Even  in  Caesar's  time,  after  the 
Brythons  had  come,  the  leaders  in  Albion  were  the  Druids, 
descendants  of  those  priests  who  in  Neolithic  times  had 
wielded  such  power  and  whose  learning  was  derived  from 

1  Those  who  would  have  us  believe  that  the  Goidels  came  from  Ireland 
think  that  the  Goidelic  or  early  Welsh  legends  also  originated  there.  As  a 
rule  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  opinion  one  way  or  the  other.  Who  is  to  say 
whether  the  story  of  the  forming  of  Lough  Neagh  or  that  of  the  flooding 
which  caused  the  I,ake  of  Glasfryn  Uchaf  is  the  older  ?  We  have,  however,  a 
legend  which  does  give  us  some  little  help,  the  well-known  story  of  the 
Children  of  D6n.  In  the  Welsh  legend  Don  is  merely  mentioned  as  being 
sister  to  the  king  and  mother  of  his  successor.  We  pause  here  to  point  out 
the  line  of  descent — it  is  matriarchal,  not  patriarchal.  In  a  tablet  raised  by 
a  Pict,  I,ossio  Veda,  we  find  him  referring  to  himself  as  Vepogenos'  nephew, 
thus  pointing  to  a  matriarchal  and  pre-Celtic  state  rather  than  to  a  Goidelic 
race.  To  continue  :  When  we  come  across  the  legend  in  Ireland  D6n  has 
become  the  goddess  Danu  or  Dana.  Peoples  are  called  after  Dana,  but  we 
never  find  individuals  referred  to  as  the  sons  of  Dana.  She  is  the  tutelary 
deity  of  tribes.  In  other  words,  the  one-time  woman  has  become  a  goddess. 
One  of  the  best-known  characteristics  of  early  legends  is  the  transition 
from  the  ordinary  individual  to  the  hero,  and  finally  to  the  god.  It  rather 
looks,  then,  as  though  this  Welsh-Pictish  story  preserved  in  the  Mabinogi 
of  Math  did  not  come  from  Ireland,  but  rather  went  to  Ireland.  The 
evidence  of  such  legends  and  deductions  therefrom  should  not,  however, 
be  pushed  far. 

13 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  Babylonian  or  Egyptian  ancestors  who  had  preceded  them 
in  the  occupation  of  this  land. 

What  is  also  probable  is  that,  asSergi  said,  "  Indo-Germanism 
led  to  almost  entire  forgetfulness  of  the  most  ancient  civiliza- 
tions of  the  earth,  those  born  in  the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Tigris."  We  are  by  no  means  convinced  that  the 
culture  of  the  Megalithic  people,  the  race  which  raised  the  great 
stone  monuments,  was  not  greater  than  that  of  later  races 
who  succeeded  in  subduing  them.  Were  it  not  that  the 
implements  and  pottery,  etc.,  found  in  the  barrows  improves 
as  we  pass  from  stone  to  bronze,  we  should  have  little  difficulty 
in  arriving  at  a  conclusion.  When  we  examine  the  stone 
circles  and  chambered  barrows  l  we  seem  to  see  before  us  a 
people  who  were  neither  savages  nor  barbarians. 

1  See  Note  A  for  a  short  account  of  the  barrows. 


PIRATE  VI.     CINERARY  VASE  FROM  THE  LATE  CELTIC  URN  FIELD  AT 

AYLESFORD,  KENT  14 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  CIRCLES  AND  THE  DRUIDS 

SOME  of  the  most  difficult  problems  with  which  modern 
research  has  attempted  to  grapple  circle  round  those 
strange    megalithic  monuments   which    are    found    all 
over  western  and  southern  Europe,  North  Africa,  Asia  Minor, 
India,  the  Pacific  Islands  as  far  as  Japan,  and  South  America. 
In  particular  the  great  stone  avenues  and  circles  have  claimed 
the  attention  of  antiquaries  and  scholars  for  many  years. 
Many  books  1  have  been  written  on  Stonehenge  alone.     Many 
theories  have  been  propounded. 

For  us  the  question  is  of  importance.  Many  of  the  Welsh- 
men of  to-day  are  nearer  akin  to  the  builders  of  the  megaliths 
than  to  any  other  race.  The  monuments  they  raised  tell 
us  most  about  the  culture  they  represented.  It  is  therefore 
not  merely  desirable  but  necessary  to  give  at  least  an  outline 
of  the  opinions  which  are  current  to-day  concerning  these 
wonderful  works  of  Neolithic  man.  Having  marshalled  the 
most  important  evidence  which  has  been  brought  to  light 
in  connexion  with  these  circles,  and  having  stated  the  con- 
clusions which  we  consider  are  best  supported  by  the  evidence, 
we  shall  then  have  to  turn  from  the  created  thing  to  the 
creating  man  and  relate  such  few  facts  concerning  the  priestly 
class  of  that  age  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  general  under- 
standing of  the  civilization  which  they  represented. 

THE  CIRCLES 

In  order  that  we  may  appreciate  the  true  meaning  of  these 
monuments,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  them  from  three 

1  More  than  seven  hundred. 

15 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

different  points  of  view :  the  astronomical  and  mathematical, 
the  antiquarian,  and  the  mythological,  legendary,  and  religious. 
Within  recent  years  a  considerable  amount  of  attention  has 
been  given  to  Stonehenge  and  other  megalithic  remains  in 
Great  Britain  by  Sir  Norman  L,ockyer  and  his  fellow-workers. 
The  conclusions  at  which  they  have  arrived,  if  correct,  are 
of  the  first  importance  to  the  student  of  history  and  to  the 
inquirer  into  the  problems  of  race-development.  Before  we 
pass  on  to  the  summarization  of  these  conclusions,  it  is  desirable 
to  state  that  other  astronomers  who  are  entitled  to  respect 
have  disagreed  with  Sir  Norman's  theories.  Dr.  Rice  Holmes 
asserts  that  Mr.  Hinks  has  shown  Sir  Norman's  calculations 
to  have  been  founded  on  faulty  premises,  and  Mr.  E.  J.  Webb 
has  taken  a  similar  view.  Since,  as  we  shall  see,  the  bulk 
of  opinion,  when  looking  at  the  subject  from  a  quite  different 
aspect,  comes  to  the  same  conclusion  as  Sir  Norman,  we 
prefer  to  follow  him  rather  than  his  opponents.  If  in  so  doing 
we  err,  we  err  in  good  company,  for  no  less  an  authority 
than  Professor  Montelius  has  ranged  himself  on  Sir  Norman 
Ivockyer's  side. 

ASTRONOMICAL  DATA 

The  researches  of  the  authority  whom  we  are  at  present 
considering  disclose  two  vastly  important  facts :  (i)  the 
building  of  the  avenues  and  circles  dates  from  3600  to  1300  B.C. ; 
(2)  these  circles  were  built  by  men  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  Egyptian  culture  of  that  time.  The  evidence  for 
these  two  conclusions  cannot,  of  course,  be  more  than  adum- 
brated here.  Briefly  put,  the  outstanding  points  may,  perhaps, 
be  stated  as  follows  :  Egyptian  temples  have  been  found  to 
have  been  built  on  the  same  general  plan  as  avenues,  circles, 
and  cromlechs.  For  astronomical  purposes  avenues  and 
circles  are  to  be  kept  distinct.  The  avenue  had  one  astrono- 
mical use,  the  circle  had  many.  Each  necessary  line  in  the 
latter  case  could  be  marked  by  a  stone  fixed  near  (as  a  rule) 
to  the  outer  circle.  In  the  avenue  the  astronomical  line  was 
down  the  centre  of  the  avenue ;  thus  it  could  serve  but  one 
16 


THE    CIRCLES    AND   THE    DRUIDS 

purpose.  Sir  Norman  has  suggested  that  the  change  from 
avenue  to  circle  was  made  necessary  from  considerations  of 
economy.  He  has  calculated  the  modern  cost  of  the  ancient 
temple  of  Amon-Ra  (an  avenue  temple)  at  £5,000,000.  Its 
main  purpose  was,  of  course,  to  bring  about  the  apparently 
miraculous  manifestation  of  the  god  Ra  once  a  year  at  the 
instant  of  sunset. 

As  time  went  on  it  seems  to  have  been  perceived  that 
a  circular  temple  would  have  added  advantages  from  the 
economical  point  of  view.  If  this  reason  for  the  change  be 
correct,  then  it  would  appear  that  we  must  credit  the  race 
who  built  the  circles  with  the  raising  of  those  stone  avenues 
which  are  found  in  considerable  numbers  here  and  upon  the 
Continent. 

Besides  the  transition  from  avenue  to  circle  another  change 
took  place.  In  Egypt  in  the  era  of  the  avenue,  say  4000  B.C., 
the  year  was  divided,  not  according  to  the  summer  and  winter 
solstices,  but  into  two  sections  which  would  now  begin  in  May 
and  November.  The  Egyptian  astronomers  discovered  the 
advantage  of  dividing  the  year  at  the  solstices  about  2000  B.C. 
In  Britain  they  were  directly  copied.  As  Sir  Norman  I/)ckyer 
has  said :  "  The  solstitial  cult  in  Britain  followed  the  May 
year  cult,  just  in  the  same  way  as  in  Egypt  the  solstitial  cult 
at  Thebes  followed  the  May  year  cult  at  Memphis  and  Helio- 
polis."  The  change  was  made  in  Egypt,  as  we  have  said, 
about  2000  B.C.  The  date  of  the  solstitial  sarsen  stone  at 
Stonehenge  has  been  fixed  to  within  200  years  at  1680  B.C. 
We  have,  therefore,  according  to  Sir  Norman,  the  Britons 
modifying  their  most  magnificent  temple  not  improbably 
within  a  comparatively  few  years  after  the  introduction  of 
the  new  system  into  Egypt. 

We  must  pause  here,  however,  to  point  out  that  folk 
practices  are  known  to-day  which  seem  to  indicate  a  division 
of  the  year  into  two  parts  commencing  with  May  and 
November  long  after  2000  B.C.  In  the  Coligny  Calendar,  to 
which  we  shall  refer  at  greater  length  later  on,  we  have  a  year 
commencing  with  November,  according  to  Sir  John  Rhys. 

B  17 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Such  practices  as  the  Hoke  Day  ceremonies  also  point  to 
the  main  divisions  of  the  year  falling  in  May  and  November, 
and  these  pieces  of  evidence  date  at  earliest  from  Brythonic 
times,  say  400  B.C. 

The  arguments  of  Sir  Norman  are  persuasive,  however,  in 
the  main.  His  conclusions  have  this  advantage,  that  they 
explain  several  things  which  were  previously  unsolved  prob- 
lems. For  example,  W.  C.  I/ukis  pointed  out  that  on  Dart- 
moor and  in  Cornwall  circles  are  frequently  found  in  clusters, 
and  the  questions  naturally  suggested  themselves,  Why  should 
these  great  works  have  been  grouped  together  ?  Why  should 
the  worshippers  have  been  gathered  into  separate  congrega- 
tions ?  Sir  Norman  has  now  shown  us  that  in  fact  these 
circles,  besides  being  temples,  also  had  a  utilitarian  purpose. 
They  were  the  time-givers.  He  has  divided  them  into  two 
main  groups,  solar  circles  and  stellar  circles,  the  latter  being 
subdivided  into  night-time  circles  and  morning-star  circles. 
Such  a  division  manifestly  enables  us  to  account  for  the 
clustering  of  the  circles  noticed  by  I/ukis. 

As  to  the  astronomical  data  upon  which  these  conclusions 
are  based,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  deal  with  them  in 
one  short  chapter.  When  we  pass  to  the  mathematical 
evidence  we  find,  however,  that  the  general  conclusions  already 
referred  to  are  supported. 

MATHEMATICAL  EVIDENCE 

Since  1912  Mr.  Nelson  has  carried  out  a  series  of  measure- 
ments of  the  main  distances  between  stones,  etc.,  found  in  these 
circles,  and  his  researches  have  led  to  some  remarkable  results. 
This  inquirer,  in  his  extraordinarily  interesting  series  of  mono- 
graphs The  Cult  of  the  Circle-Builders,  has  shown  that  the 
builders  of  the  circles  in  Britain  planned  these  monuments 
according  to  certain  sacred  numbers  which  stand  for  the  Moon, 
the  Sun  (Baal,  Bel),  and  Venus  (Ishtar,  Astarte,  Astoreth). 
These  numbers  are  3,  K,  and  7,  or  66.6.  K  is  a  convenient 
constant  which  represents  the  ancient  form  of  the  modern  TT  ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  expresses  the  relation  between  the  diameter 
18 


PLATE  VII.     BAS-RELIEF  RELATING  TO  THE  TEMPLE  OF  SIPPAR 


18 


THE   CIRCLES   AND    THE    DRUIDS 

and  the  circumference  of  a  circle.  With  the  circle-builders, 
however,  K  had  not  the  modern  value  given  to  TT,  but  equalled 
22.2 

~7~ 

From  measurements  of  the  Hestinsgarth  circle  in  the  Shet- 
lands,  checked  with  measurements  of  circles  at  Stonehenge  ; 
Avebury ;  Maumbery  Rings,  at  Dorchester  ;  Broigar,  in  the 
Orkneys ;  Stanton  Drew ;  the  Mendip  circles,  near  East 
Harptree ;  the  Bodmin  circles,  in  Cornwall ;  '  Denber's 
Pasture,'  Broughton  Hall,  Skipton,  Yorkshire  ;  temples  at 
Great  Zimbabwe,1  and  many  Greek  temples  ;  monoliths  at 
Baalbek  ;  the  Great  Pyramid ;  and  '  Cleopatra's  Needle,'  it 
appears  that  these  three  numbers  formed  the  basis  for  every 
kind  of  calculation. 

The  architect  of  Avebury  had  before  him  the  measurement 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  base,  for,  in  Mr.  Nelson's  words,  "  the 
distance  of  Bilberry  Hill  from  the  Avebury  temple  in  Hestins- 
garth feet  consists  of  the  same  numerals  as  the  length  of  the 
side  of  the  Great  Pyramid  in  cubits."  Both  contained  the 
same  sacred  number  of  units. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  Book  of  Revelation  666  is 
given  as  the  number  of  the  Beast.  This  is  a  reference  to  the 
worship  of  Baal,  which  from  ancient  times  in  Asia  Minor  had 
been  contending  for  supremacy  with  the  Hebrew  worship  of 
one  true  and  living  God.  '  Cleopatra's  Needle,'  on  the  Thames 
Embankment,  is  66.6  pyramid  feet  high.  In  Mr.  Nelson's  words, 
"  it  is  stamped  with  the  number  of  the  Beast." 

The  same  sacred  number,  with  its  three  sacred  components 
3,  K,  and  7,  is  found  in  every  circle  in  Britain  which  has  been 
examined.  The  symbolism  is  shown  beautifully  in  a  bas- 
relief  relating  to  the  temple  of  Sippar  (see  Plate  7).  The  same 
symbolism  is  to  be  found,  we  believe,  in  the  Me"n-an-tol,  which 
Sir  Norman  Ivockyer  regards  as  a  sighting-stone  used  by  the 
Druids.  There  three  notches  will  be  observed  at  the  top  and 
four  at  the  bottom.  K  does  not  appear  on  the  stone,  however. 

To  return  to  the  bas-relief.     Since  we  are  again  indebted  to 

1  In  Upper  Rhodesia,  near  the  ancient  gold-mines. 

19 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Mr.  Nelson  for  this  piece  of  evidence,1  we  quote  his  description 
of  the  bas-relief,  a  description  which  will  be  seen  to  bring  into 
prominence  all  the  essential  characteristics.  "  At  the  right- 
hand  top  corner  of  the  tablet  the  Sun-god  is  seen  sitting  in  a 
shrine.  The  three  discs  at  the  top  represent  the  Moon,  Sun, 
and  Ishtar  (Venus),  in  numbers  3,  K,  and  7,  or  66.6.  The  Sun- 
god  holds  a  ring  and  a  rod  in  his  right  hand  :  this  is  symbolical 
of  his  own  number,  K,  for  the  rod  is  the  length  of  the  circum- 
ference of  the  ring,  and  therefore  equal  to  icd. 

"The  wavy  ornamentation  of  the  Sun-god's  dress  will  be 
noted.  It  is  similar  to  the  decoration  of  the  plinth  upon  which 
the  shrine  stands.  There  are  nine  rows  of  these  waves  in  the 
depth  of  the  plinth  at  the  right  hand  of  the  tablet,  and  seven 
rows  at  the  left  hand.  There  are  thirty-one  waves  in  the  length 
of  the  plinth ;  this  is  10  K."  Mr.  Nelson  believes  that  these 
waves  symbolized  light,  and  happily  added  the  quotation 
from  Psalm  civ,  2  :  "  Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with 
a  garment." 

If  the  Sun's  disc  on  the  left  is  examined  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  are  eight  spokes  in  it ;  four  of  these  are  long-shaped 
isosceles  triangles,  the  other  four  being  bands  of  three  rows 
of  waves.  In  his  third  monograph  Mr.  Nelson  has  shown  that 
a  triangle  symbolizes  three,  a  quadrilateral  four,  a  triangle 
superimposed  upon  a  quadrilateral  seven,  and  a  triangle  on 
a  quadrilateral  capped  at  the  apex  with  a  small  circle  k. 
M.  Dechelette  arrives  at  similar  conclusions. 

ANTIQUARIAN  CONSIDERATIONS 

Now  let  us  pass  from  the  astronomer  and  the  mathematician 
to  the  antiquary.  Here  we  have  a  complete  divergence  of 
opinion.  We  will  regard  Dr.  Evans  and  Professor  Gowland  as 
representing  the  two  opposing  schools  for  the  purpose  of  the 
notes  which  follow.  Dr.  Evans,  who  holds  the  view  that 
Stonehenge  is  a  comparatively  recent  production,  dating 
not  earlier  than  the  third  century  B.C.  and  built  before  the 

1  It  is  also  noticed  by  M.  Ddchelette  in  his  monograph  Le  Culte  du  Soleil 
aux  Temps  prfhistoriques. 

20 


PLATE  VIII.     ASSYRIAN  BOUNDARY  STONE 


THE   CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

close  of  the  Wiltshire  '  Round  Barrow  '  period,  lays  much  stress 
on  the  fact  that  of  the  thirty-six  disc-shaped  barrows  which 
have  been  found  in  the  vicinity,  thirty-five  contained  evidence 
of  cremation  interment.  This,  however,  we  believe,  only  proves 
post-Neolithic  burial,  and  the  opinion  is  growing  that  even 
the  Goidelic  bronze-users  came  here  long  before  300  B.C. 
Indeed,  the  Bronze  Age,  whether  or  not  it  synchronized  with 
the  Celtic  irruption,  dates  back  to  about  2000  B.C.  according 
to  many  eminent  antiquaries. 

On  the  other  hand,  Professor  Gowland  dates  Stonehenge 
as  belonging  to  about  2000-1800  B.C.,  thus  agreeing  with 
Lockyer  and  Montelius.  Professor  Gowland,  however,  believes 
that  it  may  date  from  the  Bronze  Age  culture,  though  not  built 
with  bronze  tools.  The  fact  that  the  sarsen  stones  have  ob- 
viously been  worked  with  flint  implements  does  not  show 
conclusively  that  they  belong  to  the  Neolithic  period,  for  the 
only  alternative  was  bronze,  and,  as  Dr.  Maskelyne  has  pointed 
out,  bronze  tools  were  not  hard  enough  to  work  this  particular 
kind  of  stone.  In  fixing  his  date  Professor  Gowland  lays 
considerable  stress  on  the  finding  of  a  deer-horn  pick  among 
the  ruins,  of  the  kind  used  by  Neolithic  man  in  his  under- 
ground flint -mines.1  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  F.  R.  Coles  had 
said  that,  "  so  far  as  direct  evidence  has  been  obtained  by 
rightly  conducted  excavations,  the  outstanding  feature  of  all 
the  Scottish  circles  that  have  been  investigated  is  the  presence 
within  them  of  interments  of  the  Bronze  Age." 

We  see,  therefore,  that  on  the  question  of  date  antiquaries 
differ.  They  also  hold  different  opinions  as  to  the  use  to 
which  the  circles  were  put,  though  we  believe  that  Dr.  Evans' 
theory  that  they  were  primarily  burial-places  has  lost  favour. 
The  bulk  of  authority  supports  the  view  that  they  were  con- 
nected with  sun-worship.  On  the  whole  we  must  admit,  how- 
ever, that  the  purely  archaeological  evidence  is  conflicting. 
Where  authorities  disagree  it  behoves  the  wayfarer  to  be 

1  Picks  of  the  same  shape  (viz.  with  one  spur  only  instead  of  the  common 
double  head)  are  still  used  in  the  flint-mines  at  Brandon,  which  have  been  in 
use  since  Neolithic  times. 

21 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

dumb.  We  therefore  pass  on  to  consider  what  mythology  and 
religion  can  teach  us. 

MYTHOLOGICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONSIDERATIONS 

As  we  have  said,  these  circles  were  temples  ;  they  were  not 
places  of  burial.  The  rites  observed  there  were  those  of 
the  worship  of  Baal,  sun-worship  which  had  come  here 
from  Asia  Minor  probably  by  way  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules. 
Let  us  see  if  what  we  know  of  the  early  religion  of  these 
islands  supports  this  conclusion.  We  remind  the  reader  at 
the  outset  that  throughout  these  opening  chapters  we 
have  regarded  Neolithic  man  as  a  member  of  the  Semitic 
or  Hamitic  race. 

Now  it  is  fairly  clear  that  the  people  who  raised  the 
circles  also  built  those  great  tumuli  which  are  scattered  over 
Europe.  Such  works  as  that  at  Mont  Saint-Michel — which 
contains  some  40,000  cubic  yards  of  stone — belong  essentially 
to  the  Megalithic  culture.  So  does  New  Grange,  in  Ireland. 
This  Neolithic  burial-place  possesses  some  qualities  which  give 
it  a  special  interest  to  students  of  these  early  times.  The 
mound  itself  is  some  280  feet  wide  and  44  feet  high.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  circle  of  upright  stones.  Tunnelling  through  the 
side  of  the  mound  is  a  narrow  passage,  the  entrance  of  which 
faces  exactly  south-east.  The  passage  is  lined  both  at  the 
sides  and  at  the  top  with  slabs  of  unhewn  stone.  Though 
but  3  feet  wide,  it  is  in  places  nearly  8  feet  high,  and  penetrates 
into  the  mound  nearly  62  feet.  It  terminates  in  a  chamber 
some  20  feet  high,  shaped  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  The  roof  of 
this  chamber,  which  is  dome-shaped,  is  formed  of  large  flat 
stones.  In  each  of  the  three  recesses  of  the  central  chamber 
stands  a  large  stone  sarcophagus.  No  traces  of  burials  now 
remain,  the  mausoleum  having  been  ransacked  by  the  Danes. 
At  the  entrance  of  the  tunnel  there  stands,  however,  a  large 
stone  covered  with  a  carved  pattern  very  similar  to  that 
on  chalk  objects  which  were  found  in  a  Neolithic  tomb  in 
Yorkshire  (see  Plate  10).  We  have  here,  then,  a  splendid 
example  of  a  Neolithic  tomb.  Its  main  interest  for  us,  how- 

22 


W 


THE    CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

ever,  lies  in  the  fact  that  graven  on  one  of  the  interior  stones 
is  a  rude  representation  of  a  solar  ship. 

Now  these  solar  ships  are  very  well  known  symbols  repre- 
senting the  passage  of  the  dead  from  this  world  to  the  under- 
world. M.  Dechelette  in  his  monograph  Le  Culte  du  Soleil 
aux  Temps  Prehistoriques  gives  a  large  number  of  examples  of 
solar  ship  drawings  from  various  parts  of  Europe.  In  some 
the  ship  and  the  solar  mark  alone  are  portrayed.  In  some 
the  ship  is  drawn  by  a  dolphin,  in  others  by  a  swan.  All 
are  connected  with  sun-worship.  In  Egypt  the  solar  ship 
is  frequently  found  on  monuments.  Sometimes  it  is  simply 
a  ship  with  the  solar  mark,  sometimes  the  ship  contains  the 
souls  of  the  dead,  sometimes  inside  the  solar  sign  the  god  Ra 
sits  enshrined. 

We  therefore  see,  unless  our  eyes  have  played  us  false, 
that  the  builders  of  the  tumulus  at  New  Grange  observed  the 
same  religious  rites  connected  with  burials  as  did  the  Egyptians 
and  many  other  peoples  scattered  over  parts  of  Europe  into 
which  the  Celts  never  penetrated.  We  have  seen  that  it  is 
at  least  probable  that  the  builders  of  New  Grange  belonged 
to  the  Megalithic  culture.  We  suggest  that  the  British  circles 
belong  to  the  same  culture.  We  are  again,  therefore,  led 
back  to  Egypt. 

If  the  entrance  stone  at  New  Grange  and  the  chalk  objects 
already  referred  to  are  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  on 
both  a  peculiar  spiral  system  of  ornamentation  was  adopted. 
This  was  not  mere  decoration ;  it  has  a  meaning.  Scattered 
well-nigh  all  over  the  world,  at  any  rate  over  the  Megalithic 
world,  are  found  a  series  of  markings  which  have  been  called 
cup-and-ring  markings.  They  are  found  only  on  megaliths 
or  on  objects  belonging  to  the  Megalithic  culture.  They  are 
a  sign  that  the  object  on  which  they  are  engraved  is  holy.  The 
curves  or  spirals  above  referred  to  are  variants  of  the  cup- 
and-ring  marking. 

Again,  nothing  is  more  typical  of  the  Egyptian  mind  of 
2000  B.C.  or  earlier  than  its  love  of  magic.  Every  one 
will  remember  the  conflict  between  Aaron  and  the  wizards 

23 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 
O 


SOLAR  SHIP  (WITH  SAIL?) 

FROM  NEW  GRANGE, 

IRELAND 


SHIP  CARVING  (WITH  SOLAR  EMBLEM  ?) 

FROM  SCANIA,  SWEDEN 

(After  Du  Chaillu) 


SHIP  (WITH  SAIL  ?)  FROM 

RYXO 
(After  Du  Chaillu) 


EGYPTIAN  BARK,  WITH  FIGURE  OF  RA 

HOLDING  AKAnkh,  ENCLOSED  IN  SOLAR 

DISK.    XIXTH  DYNASTY 
(British  Museum) 


SOLAR  SHIP  FROM  HALLANDE,  SWEDEN 
(After  Montelius) 


EGYPTIAN  SOLAR  BARK,  WITH  GOD 

KHNEMU  AND  ATTENDANT  DEITIES 

(British  Museum) 


O 


SOLAR  SHIP  PROM  Loc- 

MARIAKER,  BRITTANY 

(After  Ferguson) 


EGYPTIAN  SOLAR  BARK.    XXIlND  DYNASTY 
(British  Museum) 


From  Myths  and  Legends  of  the  Celtic  Race,  by  T.  W.  Rolleston. 


PLATE  X.     (i)  FOOD- VESSEL  AND  COVER 
(2)  THREE  CHALK  OBJECTS,  POSSIBLY  IDOLS 


THE    CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

of  Egypt.  Magic  was  also  a  peculiarity  of  the  Megalithic 
culture.  The  Druids  in  after-times  were  wizards,  and,  as  we 
shall  see,  were  classed  by  Clemens  Alexandrinus  as  one  of  the 
four  great  divisions  of  the  magi.  The  same  fact  is  impressed 
most  strongly  upon  us  by  the  tumulus  discovered  in  1864 
at  Mane-er-H'oeck,  in  Brittany.  Here  in  a  chamber  in  the 
tumulus  was  found  a  beautiful  pendant  in  green  jasper.  In 
the  centre  of  the  chamber  was  a  large  ring  of  jadite,  oval  in 
shape,  with  a  beautifully  finished  axe-head  of  jadite  resting 
with  its  point  on  the  ring.  A  little  distance  from  these  were 
several  objects  arranged  in  a  line  coinciding  with  the  diagonal 
of  the  chamber,  running  from  north-west  to  south-east.  These 
objects  consisted  of  two  large  pendants  of  jasper,  an  axe-head 
of  white  jade  which  must  have  come  from  China,  and  another 
jasper  pendant.  In  other  parts  of  the  chamber  were  found 
over  a  hundred  axe-heads  in  jade,  jadite,  and  fibrolite.  It  was 
not  a  burial-place.  How  can  we  account  for  such  a  place 
other  than  by  saying  that  it  was  a  temple  of  magic  ?  It  will  of 
course  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  axe-head  was  a  symbol  of 
godhead  common  in  Egyptian  hieroglyphics. 

FOLK  PRACTICES 

Again,  Wood-Martin  has  said  that  "  stone,  water,  tree,  and 
animal  worship  are  intimately  connected."  The  Anglo-Saxon 
Christian  ordinances  are  mainly  directed  against  the  worship 
of  the  sun,  moon,  fire,  rivers,  fountains,  rocks,  or  trees — thus 
pointing  to  earlier  practices  of  that  nature  which  had  to  be 
repressed.  This  form  of  worship  was  common  in  Egypt  and 
Asia  Minor,  as  was  the  practice  of  tying  rags  on  trees,  which 
lived  into  modern  times  in  Wales,  and  the  worship  of  the  cat, 
which  was  obviously  a  quasi-sacred  animal  in  Wales  in  the  time 
of  Howel  Dha.  Again,  the  people  who  worshipped  Baal  prac- 
tised the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  victims  on  the  altar -stones. 
This  was  also  a  practice  of  the  Druids. 

Sacred  fountains  were  a  common  symbol  at  Semitic  sanc- 
tuaries. Sacred  wells  and  fountains  form  the  basis  of  many 
ancient  Welsh  and  Irish  legends,  as  we  shall  see.  Evidence 

25 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

from  folk  practices  and  legends  of  such  weight  could  be  ad- 
duced as  to  force  one  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Semitic  people 
were  at  once  worshippers  of  Baal  or  Bel  and  the  introducers 
of  that  religion  to  Britain ;  further,  that  the  religion  took  firm 
root  in  British  soil  and  lived  on  in  the  practices  of  the  Druids. 
This  is  not  the  place  in  which  to  marshal  this  evidence.  We 
content  ourselves  with  referring  to  the  Irish  story  The  Wooing 
of  Emir.  There  we  are  informed  that  at  Bron-Trogin  (the 
beginning  of  autumn)  the  young  of  every  kind  of  animal  used 
to  be  "  assigned  to  the  possession  of  the  idol  Bel."  Again,  in 
the  Book  of  Taliessin  we  have  a  reference  to  the  cadair  Belin 
(chair  of  Bel  or  Bael),  and  the  Druids  believed  that  the  Sun 
made  his  daily  round  in  a  chair.  We  do  not  pursue  this  line 
of  inquiry  for  another  reason — we  have  no  desire  to  reproduce 
the  ingenious  but  misguided  efforts  of  Edward  Davies,  Herbert, 
and  perhaps  we  should  add  M.  O.  Morgan,  to  read  into  the 
old  Welsh  stories  a  symbolic  reference  to  the  Druidical  religion. 

PHILOLOGICAL  EVIDENCE 

In  this  effort  to  present  the  reader  with  the  simple 
and  outstanding  facts  which  suggest  a  connexion  between 
Egyptian  culture  and  the  Megalithic  culture  in  Britain  it  is 
desirable  to  point  out  that  philologists  agree  that  Welsh 
syntax  shows  a  close  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Hamitic 
languages  (closely  connected  with  the  Semitic) ,  and  that  ethno- 
logists believe  that  Megalithic  people  radiated  north,  east, 
and  west  from  some  place  on  the  North  African  littoral. 

UTILITY  OF  THE  CIRCLES 

Whether,  like  many  other  ancient  customs,  the  cult  of  the 
circle  originated  in  utility  l  and  ended  in  becoming  a  religion, 
or  whether  the  unfathomable  mysteries  of  the  heavens,  the 
beauty  of  the  growing  trees  and  flowing  rivers,  so  impressed 
early  man  as  to  cause  him  to  worship  and  study  them,  and  so 
to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  heavens  which  in  time  was  put 
to  a  practical  use,  we  are  not  prepared  to  say.  The  trend 

1  They  served,  as  we  have  seen,  the  useful  purpose  of  time-keepers. 
26 


THE    CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

of  ancient  practices  is  frequently  from  utility  to  religion. 
Thus  the  clause  in  the  Laws  of  Manu  forbidding  the  touching 
of  the  flesh  of  the  pig  was  grounded  in  utility,  but  became  a 
religious  observance.  It  may  be  that  the  circles  originated 
as  an  astronomical  mode  of  telling  the  time  and  as  a  method 
of  fixing  seed-time  and  harvest,  and  became  in  succeeding 
ages  potent  instruments  in  the  hands  of  the  priests.  In  our 
opinion,  however,  they  were  from  the  earliest  times  connected 
with  sun-worship. 

In  early  days  great  significance  was  always  assigned  to 
the  time  at  which  a  thing  happened.  Those  acquainted 
with  the  early  history  of  Roman  law  will  remember  how 
jealously  the  priests  (then  the  lawgivers)  kept  from  the  people 
all  knowledge  of  the  dies  fasti  and  nefasti.  It  was  so  with 
the  Druids,  who  attached  the  greatest  importance  to  lucky  and 
unlucky  days  and  pretended  to  a  power  of  divination  by  con- 
sulting the  stars.  Such  practices  seem  to  take  us  back  to 
Neolithic  times.  Indeed,  there  are  many  reasons  which  support 
the  view  that  Druidism  goes  back  as  far  as  the  circle-builders — 
back,  that  is  to  say,  beyond  the  Age  of  Bronze.  In  later  times, 
after  the  Roman  invasion,  the  Druids  still  practised  some  of 
their  ancient  craft  in  Wales  and  Ireland.  They  were  still 
astrologers,  they  were  still  called  in  to  calculate  the  way  in 
which  and  the  time  at  which  a  house  should  be  built.  But 
the  class  was  becoming  degenerate,  the  priest  was  becoming 
a  medicine-man.  With  these  preliminary  remarks  let  us  turn 
to  a  consideration  of  the  Druids  themselves. 

THE  DRUIDS 

Of  the  outward  appearance  of  these  priests  we  know  but 
little.  We  are  informed,  however,  that  they  wore  a  white 
robe  (at  least  when  performing  the  sacred  ceremony  of  cutting 
the  mistletoe  from  the  oak  with  a  golden  knife) ,  and  that  they 
were  tonsured.  It  will  be  seen  later  on  that  the  Cymro  had 
to  be  tonsured  when  he  entered  the  service  or  family  of  his 
chief.  Whether  the  two  practices  are  in  any  way  connected 
we  do  not  know.  • 

27 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

The  Druids  were  the  priests,  the  men  of  learning,  the  poets 
and  lawyers  of  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Ireland.  The  Gaulish  and 
British  Druids  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  in 
a  form  of  transmigration  of  souls.  The  Irish  Druids  do  not 
seem  to  have  held  quite  the  same  views  on  this  important 
point.  They  (the  Irish)  worshipped  idols,  one,  the  god  to 
whom  the  young  of  animals  was  devoted,  being  called  Bel. 

In  Gaul  and  Britain  especially  the  Druids  were  the  leaders 
of  religion,  the  diviners  and  soothsayers. 

According  to  Pomponius  Mela,  the  Druids  of  Gaul  were 
masters  of  eloquence  and  wisdom.  They  also  professed  to 
know  the  size  and  form  of  the  earth,  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  and  the  stars.  This  is  perhaps  rating  them 
too  low.  They  were  probably  acquainted  with  many  ad- 
vanced astronomical  facts.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  the  circles  and  avenues  we  have  referred  to  could  not 
have  been  planned  save  by  men  who  had  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  astronomy. 

We  are  also  informed  by  the  same  writer  that  the  Druids 
were  prophets  who  could  foretell  the  wishes  of  the  gods. 
Further,  that  they  were  the  men  of  learning  to  whom  the 
education  of  the  children  of  the  principal  men  of  the  tribes  was 
entrusted.  We  have  a  confirmation  of  this  in  the  Irish  stories. 
There  we  read  that  King  Laegaire's  two  daughters  were  sent 
to  live  at  Curachan,  in  Connagh,  in  the  house  of  the  two  Druids 
who  had  charge  of  their  education ;  and  St.  Columba  himself 
was  educated  by  a  Druid. 

It  is  Pliny  who  tells  us  of  the  reverence  with  which  the 
Druids  regarded  the  oak,  and  the  mistletoe  when  growing 
upon  oak.  The  Druids  of  Gaul  held  nothing  more  sacred 
than  the  mistletoe  and  the  tree  on  which  it  grew,  if  that  tree 
were  an  oak.  He  also  tells  us  of  the  oak-groves  and  the  use 
of  oak-leaves  in  their  religious  ceremonies.  He,  too,  derives 
their  name  from  the  Greek  word  for  oak,  a  derivation  which 
is  not,  however,  accepted  to-day.1 

1  It  comes  from  the  Aryan  root  VTD,  strengthened  by  an  intensive  prefix 
DRU,  combined  meaning  '  very  wise.' 

28 


THE   CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

Diodorus  Siculus  agrees  in  according  to  the  Druids  trie 
power  of  prophecy.  He  refers  to  them  as  philosophers  and 
priests  who  were  held  in  the  greatest  reverence.  This  again 
agrees  with  the  Irish  authorities,  for  we  read  that  at  the  feast 
which  King  Concobar  gave,  when  he  stood  up  to  address  his 
subjects  he  waited  before  speaking  until  the  Druid  Cathbad 
opened  the  discussion  by  inquiring,  "  What  is  this,  O  illustrious 
King  ?  "  Further,  from  Ossian  it  appears  that  the  Druids 
had  in  times  of  great  national  danger  the  power  of  electing 
or  appointing  a  dictator  with  supreme  power,  who  held  office 
so  long  as  the  Druids  deemed  that  affairs  demanded  a  strong 
hand. 

The  Druids  doubtless  derived  most  of  their  power,which  would 
seem  to  have  been  considerable,  from  their  faculty  of  divination 
and  their  knowledge,  a  knowledge  which  they  were  careful 
to  keep  secret.  They  were  the  wizards,  the  magi  of  pre- 
Roman  Britain.  Clemens  Alexandrinus  in  his  list  of  the  magi 
of  different  nations  mentions  the  prophets  of  the  Egyptians, 
the  Chaldees  of  Assyria,  the  Druids  of  the  Gauls,  and  the 
philosophers  of  the  Keltoi. 

Their  methods  of  divination  have  been  differently  described 
by  different  writers.  If  we  follow  Diodorus  Siculus  it  appears 
that  the  Druids  of  Gaul  practised  human  sacrifice,  the  victim 
being  struck  by  a  sword,  and  from  his  mode  of  falling,  the 
contortions  of  his  limbs,  and  the  flowing  of  the  blood  future 
events  were  predicted.  Strabo,  however,  seems  to  suggest 
that  a  separate  class,  the  soothsayers,  were  responsible  for 
the  sacrificial  rites,  the  Druids  being  rather  wise  men,  philo- 
sophers who  were  concerned  mainly  with  learning.  Diodorus, 
indeed,  also  tells  us  that  the  soothsayers  performed  the  sacrifice, 
but  the  priest  attended  so  that  the  thanksgiving  offered  to  the 
gods  should  be  acceptable. 

With  the  Irish,  the  Druids  made  their  divinations  from 
observations  of  the  clouds,  according  to  Dr.  Joyce,  though  we 
confess  the  usual  opinion  that  they  used  the  stars  for  the 
purpose  of  their  auguries  agrees  with  what  we  know  of  their 
early  astronomical  professions.  Cloud  divination  may  be 

29 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

a  later  form  which  would  appeal  to  a  poetic  and  romantic 
people  who  had  forgotten  the  reason  underlying  the  ancient 
study  of  the  heavens  while  remembering  that  the  heavens 
were  studied.  This,  of  course,  is  pure  surmise. 

In  Ireland  it  also  appears  that  the  Druids  practised  wheel 
divination.  Exactly  how  this  was  done  is  to-day  unknown. 
It  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  interest  to  note,  as  Sir  John  Rhys 
has  pointed  out,  and  as  Dr.  Joyce  has  remarked,  that  the  old 
Gaulish  sun-god  is  represented  with  a  wheel  in  his  hand,  even 
as  is  Baal  in  the  tablet  we  have  described. 

Much  of  the  later  Irish  Druidical  prophecy  is,  in  our  opinion, 
mere  medicine -man  work — common  cunning  preying  on  the 
superstitious  and  not  based  on  any  particular  knowledge. 
As  we  have  already  said,  the  Druids  attached  considerable 
importance  to  lucky  days.  These  days  were  generally 
determined,  in  Ireland,  from  a  consideration  of  the  moon's 
age.1 

Both  in  Ireland  and  in  Gaul  (and  we  believe  we  may  add 

1  The  Coligny  Calendar,  discovered  in  November  1897,  near  Lyons,  France, 
proves,  we  believe,  quite  conclusively  that  the  priests  of  Gaul  in  the  first 
century  of  our  era  still  retained  the  ancient  belief  in  lucky  and  unlucky 
times.  This  calendar,  which  is  described  by  Rhys  in  his  paper  Celtae  and  Galli, 
read  before  the  British  Academy  in  1905,  divides  the  year  up  as  follows  : 

Cantlos  29  days     = 

Samoa  30 

Duman  29 

Rivios  30 

Anacaulios  29 

Ogron  30 

Qutios  30 

Granion  29 

Simivis  30 

Equos  30 

Elembin  29 

Edrin  30 

Several  points  arise  out  of  this  calendar  even  when  considered  generally. 
In  the  first  place,  observe  the  Goidelic '  qu '  in  the  important  November  month, 
also  in  February.  From  this,  prima  facie,  it  looks  like  a  Goidelic  rather  than 
a  Brythonic  calendar.  Secondly,  if  the  days  are  added  up  they  will  be 
found  to  make  355.  The  necessary  corrective  appears  from  the  full  calendar, 
which  embraces  more  than  one  year.  Every  five  years,  apparently,  an  added 
month  was  twice  put  in,  which  brings  the  year  on  an  average  to  367  days. 
Again,  it  appears,  according  to  Rhys,  that  this  calendar  gives  November  as  the 

30 


May 

unlucky 

June 

lucky 

July 

unlucky 

August 

lucky 

September 

unlucky 

October 

lucky 

November 

lucky 

December 

unlucky 

January 

lucky 

February 

unlucky 

March 

unlucky 

April 

lucky 

THE   CIRCLES    AND    THE    DRUIDS 

in  Britain)  the  Druid  was  connected  with  the  bard.  Diodorus 
Siculus  treats  of  them  together  when  considering  Gaul,  and  so 
does  Strabo.  In  Ireland  they  were  quite  definitely  con- 
nected. The  class  indeed  had  an  important  third  division 
there — the  Brehon,  or  lawyer.  In  Wales  the  Triads  group  bard 
and  Druid  together.  This,  of  course,  is  not  conclusive,  because 
the  Triads  are  comparatively  modern. 

One  of  the  questions  relating  to  the  Druids  about  which  there 
has  been  most  dispute  is  the  connexion  between  the  Druids  of 
Gaul  and  those  of  Britain.  W.  F.  Tamblyn  has,  indeed, 
gone  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  there  never  were  any  Druids 
in  the  sense  of  learned  priests  in  Britain.  His  further  con- 
tention that  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain  was  not  under- 
taken simply  to  crush  the  Druidical  religion  is  probably  correct, 
as  is  his  view  that  Gaul,  and  not  Britain  or  Mon,  was  the  centre 
of  the  Druidic  religion.  To  say  that  there  never  were  any 
learned  Druids  in  Britain,  but  mere  savage  medicine-men  with 
a  penchant  for  human  slaughter  and  sorcery,  is,  we  believe, 
to  ignore  the  evidence  of  the  cromlech,  the  circle,  and  the 
avenue. 

As  we  have  said,  it  is  evident  that  in  Britain  in  very  early 
times  there  were  men  possessed  of  undoubted  astronomical 
knowledge  in  touch  with  Egyptian  culture.  As  Sir  Norman 
lyockyer  has  told  us  :  "  The  people  who  honoured  us  with 
their  presence  here  in  Britain  some  four  thousand  years  ago 
had  evidently,  some  way  or  other,  had  communicated  to 
them  a  very  complete  Egyptian  culture,  and  they  deter- 
mined their  time  of  night  just  in  the  same  way  that  the 
Egyptians  did,  only  of  course  there  was  a  great  difference 

beginning  of  the  year.  He  adds :  "  Celtic  folk-lore  unanimously  points  [to  the 
first  of  November]  as  the  calends  of  winter  and  the  beginning  of  the  year." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  avenues  were  apparently 
based  on  a  division  of  the  year  according  to  May  and  November,  a  division 
which  was  early  altered,  following  the  Egyptian  system,  to  agree  with  the 
summer  and  winter  solstices.  Again,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
competent  authorities  have  fixed  the  date  of  the  calendar  as  the  middle 
of  the  first  century  A.D.  I/astly,  it  is  desirable  to  remark  that  the  calendar, 
besides  marks  showing  which  were  lucky  and  which  unlucky  months,  contains 
signs  which,  it  has  been  suggested  on  grounds  which  are  at  least  persuasive, 
refer  to  weather  prophecies. 

31 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

between  the  latitude  of  25°  in  Egypt  and  50°  in  Cornwall. 
They  could  not  observe  the  same  stars  for  the  same  purpose. 
They  observed  the  stars  which  served  their  purpose  for  one 
thousand  years  or  so.  Those  stars  were  Capella  and  Arcturus." 
We  have  included  the  latter  part  of  our  extract  because  it  shows 
that  the  British  Druids  were  not  simply  blindly  copying  the 
Egyptian  temple  architecture ;  they  modified  it  to  meet 
the  change  of  latitude.  They  did  not  copy  the  Egyptian 
stellar  system ;  they  modified  it  to  meet  their  altered  cir- 
cumstances. All  this  shows  knowledge  vastly  greater  than  that 
possessed  by  the  totemist  or  the  idol-worshipping  medicine- 
man. 

Then  there  is  Stonehenge.  Mute  witness  to  a  bygone 
culture,  it  stands  to-day  the  symbol  of  events  now  nearly  lost 
to  us.  Gazing  upon  that  great  circle  of  mighty  stones,  it  is 
ridiculous  to  talk  of  savages  and  medicine-men.  Of  what 
matter  is  it,  indeed,  that  Cicero  and  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus, 
Mela,  Lucan,  Pliny,  Ammianus,  Suidas,  and  others  all  or 
mainly  refer  to  the  Druids  of  Gaul  ?  To  argue  from  the  nega- 
tive evidence,  from  the  fact  that  British  Druids  are  ignored 
by  the  Roman  and  Greek  writers,  that  therefore  there  were  no 
British  Druids  is  most  unconvincing.  It  appears  obvious  that 
the  reason  why  the  Roman  and  Greek  writers  mentioned  little 
of  British  Druidism  is  that  (i)  they  knew  nothing  of  Britain 
before  Caesar,  except  such  information  as  Pythias,  Posidonius, 
or  the  Phoenician  traders  had  gathered — and  they  would  know 
little  of  the  priestly  class  ;  (2)  by  Caesar's  time  the  Druids 
were  of  comparatively  small  importance  in  the  Britain  he  knew, 
and  it  is  fairly  clear  that  the  Druidic  religion  was  of  Goidelic 
or  pre-Celtic  rather  than  of  Brythonic  origin.  By  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Christian  era  the  Druids  had  been  driven 
back  with  their  Goidelic  subjects  into  the  west  and  north. 

But  we  confess  that  the  real  argument  for  the  view  that 
Druidism  existed  in  Britain  is  found  in  Stonehenge  and  the 
other  great  stone  works.  If  it  be  objected  that  these  were 
built  by  astronomers  other  than  the  Druids,  the  answer  is 
that  it  matters  not  what  they  are  called.  The  important  point 

32 


THE   CIRCLES    AND   THE    DRUIDS 

which  emerges  is  the  fact  that  there  was  some  culture  and 
learning  in  Britain  long  before  Rome  was  founded. 

Again,  we  cannot  agree  with  the  view  expressed  by  W.  F. 
Tamblyn  that  a  pan-Celtic  Druidism  is  very  difficult  to  imagine. 
The  fact  is  that  we  have  little,  and  can  expect  little,  direct 
evidence  upon  the  subject.  Caesar,  however,  states  that 
Gaulish  youths  went  to  Britain  to  learn  the  Druidic  mysteries. 
It  is  perfectly  certain  that  in  early  times  there  was  continual 
intercommunication  between  Britain  and  Gaul.  Competent 
observers  working  on  the  old  legends  of  magic  wells  and  flooded 
lands,  legends  common  in  Brittany,  Cornwall,  Wales,  and  Ireland, 
have  suggested  that  within  a  time  when  the  creation  of  a  legend 
was  possible  land  was  continuous  between  Gaul  and  Erin.  This 
theory  is  not  hopelessly  opposed  to  geology.  A  study  of  Welsh 
history  makes  clear  the  intimate  connexion  in  later  times 
between  Brittany  and  Britain.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
connexion  is  closest  between  Brittany  and  that  part  of  Britain 
which  was  Brythonic.  This  consideration,  of  course,  is  not 
in  favour  of  our  present  contention  that  Goidelic  Britain 
and  the  Goidels  of  the  Continent  were  in  communication. 
We  see  no  fundamental  reason  for  regarding  Goidelic  inter- 
communication as  any  more  impossible  than  Brythonic  inter- 
communication after  the  Saxon  invasion. 

DEGENERATION  OF  THE  DRUIDS 

As  the  old  Druidical  knowledge  was  lost — as  we  believe  it  was 
lost — the  Druids  degenerated  into  mere  sorcerers,  medicine- 
men, and  charm-sellers.  The  causes  which  brought  about  the 
decline  are  not  known  to  us.  Separation  from  the  wider 
culture  of  the  East  probably  marked  its  commencement.  The 
wars  and  disorganization  which  were  not  improbably  con- 
tinuous for  centuries  before  the  Christian  era  probably  also 
had  their  effect. 

As  time  went  on  it  appears  that  their  wisdom  became  the 
wisdom  of  the  wizard ;  the  Druidess  becomes  a  witch.  In 
Ireland  we  find  such  practices  as  casting  spells  while  on  one 
hand  and  one  foot  with,  one  eye  closed  ;  or  of  driving  an 

c  33 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

enemy  to  madness  by  throwing  an  accursed  wisp  of  straw 
in  the  face  of  the  hated  one.  In  Wales  it  is  manifest  that  the 
religious  power  of  the  Druids  was  early  broken  by  the  advent  of 
Christianity.  The  old  Druidical  cult  was  not  improbably  at 
an  end  by  the  time  of  Severus.  They  lived  on  in  name  as 
soothsayers  and  learned  men.  Thus  in  the  Book  of  Taliessin 
we  read  : 

I  travelled  in  the  earth, 

Before  I  was  a  proficient  in  learning. 

I  travelled,  I  made  a  circuit, 

I  slept  in  a  hundred  islands, 

A  hundred  Caers  I  have  dwelt  in. 

Ye  intelligent  Druids, 

Declare  to  Arthur, 

What  is  there  more  early 

Than  I  that  they  sing  of  ? 

And  one  is  come 

From  considering  the  deluge, 

And  Christ  crucified, 

And  the  day  of  future  doom, 

A  golden  gem  in  a  golden  jewel. 

I  am  splendid 

And  shall  be  wanton 

From  the  oppression  of  the  metal-workers. 

Again,  in  the  poem  from  the  Book  of  Taliessin  entitled 
"  The  Omen  of  Prydein  the  Great  "  we  read  : 

Druids  foretell  what  great  things  will  happen. 
From  Mynau  to  Llydau  in  their  hands  will  be. 
From  Dy  ved  to  Thanet  they  will  possess, 
From  the  light  to  the  ground  along  their  Abers. 

Druids  are  mentioned  in  two  other  passages  in  the  Book  of 
Taliessin,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  not 
the  spiritual  chiefs  of  the  Britons  from  the  very  earliest  times. 

The  last  line  in  the  first  passage  quoted  above  is  of  interest 
to  the  student  of  folk-stories.  Johnson  in  his  interesting  book 
Folk  Memory  has  pointed  out  that  the  Druids  and  priests  of 
the  Stone  Age  had  a  prejudice  against  the  intruding  bronze— 
a  prejudice  which  was  shared  in  later  times  by  their  descendants 
in  respect  of  iron.  The  Hebrews,  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks, 
the  Romans,  all  at  one  time  or  another  shared  the  same 

34 


THE    CIRCLES    AND   THE    DRUIDS 

prejudice.  We  believe  that  the  poet's  protest  against  "the 
oppression  of  the  metal-workers  "  has  its  roots  in  beliefs  and 
opinions  of  immense  antiquity. 

THE  LATER  DRUIDS 

Of  the  later  Druids,  the  wizards  and  charm-sellers,  we  do  not 
propose  to  speak  at  any  length.  Whether  the  word  Druid 
can  be  rightly  attached  to  them  we  do  not  know.  Certain  it 
is  that  in  Ireland  the  Druids  were  mere  wizards  in  the  bad 
sense.  They  claimed  the  power  of  making  people  invisible. 
They  also  gave  charms,  sometimes  pieces  of  few  (the  oak  was 
unknown  in  Ireland  in  early  times),  marked  with  Ogham  in- 
scriptions. Such  charms  guarded  against  sickness  and  other 
evils.  In  Wales  we  know  that  there  were  guardians  of  wells 
who  would  curse  or  bless  for  money  the  enemies  or  friends  of 
their  clients.  These  practices,  however,  have  in  truth  no 
connexion  with  the  men  who  raised  Stonehenge — no  more 
connexion  than  the  charms  given  in  the  Saxon  Leechdoms 
for  curing  the  elf -sickness ;  no  more  connexion  than  the  later 
beliefs  that  cromlech  mounds  were  places  where  fairies  danced. 
The  fairy  dwellings  of  Ireland  have  within  recent  years  been 
the  subject  of  some  extremely  interesting  articles  which  we 
cannot  pause  to  consider.  In  our  opinion,  however,  these 
fairy  stories  and  superstitions  belong  to  a  ruder  age  than 
either  the  cromlech  or  the  avenue.  The  mystery  to  us  is, 
"  What  happened  to  the  builders  of  the  megaliths  ?  "  That 
is  a  question  which  is  still  at  large 

- 


35 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  BRYTHONIC  CONQUEST 

WE  believe  it  will  be  of  service  to  the  reader  if,  before 
passing  to  a  consideration   of  the  Brythons,  we 
summarize  the  results  at  which  we  have  arrived 
in  the  two  preceding  chapters. 

The  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  is  roughly  400  B.C. 
Britain  was  then  inhabited  by  the  pre-Celtic  race  of  the  family 
of  Semites,  together  with  the  Goidelic  branch  of  the  Aryans. 
The  Semitics  were  probably  the  more  numerous,  and  probably 
retained  something  of  their  ancient  culture.  Centuries  of 
separation  from  the  learning  of  the  East  was,  however,  bring- 
ing about  a  degradation  of  their  civilization.  The  blighting 
influence  of  the  Aryan  wars — the  nature  of  which  we  can  only 
guess  at — tended  toward  the  same  result.  They  still  were 
capable,  however,  of  exercising  an  intellectual  ascendancy 
over  their  conquerors,  the  Goidels,  and  had  impressed  that 
race  to  some  extent  with  their  religion.  Their  priests,  whom 
we  have  identified,  rightly  or  wrongly,  with  the  Druids,  still 
retained  some  of  the  ancient  learning,  but  it,  too,  was  becoming 
degraded.  They  still  kept  up  communication  with  their 
kinsmen  of  the  Continent  and  still  retained  some  semblance 
of  a  social  system. 

With  the  coming  of  the  Brython,  as  we  shall  see,  this  more 
ancient  people  l  was  driven  from  the  agricultural  lands  of  the 
south  back  to  the  pasture-lands  of  the  west  and  north.  The 
Goidels  were  forced  to  live  among  forests  and  hills.  They  were 
driven  over  to  Ireland  and  to  Scotland.  The  centuries  which 

1  The  earlier  races  had  by  now  commingled  even  as  the  Norman  and  Saxon 
have  done — the  period  between  the  Goidelic  and  the  Brythonic  invasions 
being  about  as  long  as  that  between  the  Norman  Conquest  and  the  age  of  the 
Stuarts. 

36 


THE    BRYTHONIC    CONQUEST 

followed  were,  we  believe,  years  of  great  hardship  for  the 
conquered  people  This,  again,  would  bring  about  a  further 
degradation  in  their  culture.  In  the  result,  by  Caesar's 
time  they  had  become  a  pastoral  people,  living  in  a  com- 
paratively primitive  manner,  lower  probably  in  the  scale 
of  civilization  than  the  Brythons. 

But  even  now  the  lamp  of  knowledge  had  not  completely 
died  out.  The  Druids  still  retained  some  vestiges  of  culture. 
Perhaps  we  can  go  further  and  credit  them  with  the  wisdom  of 
which  the  ancient  historians  speak.  If  this  be  so,  unless  Caesar 
grossly  under-estimated  the  degree  of  civilization  possessed 
by  the  people  of  the  interior,  we  must  say  that  the  Druids 
alone  had  saved  from  the  wreck  of  Semitic  civilization  some 
remnants  of  its  learning.  The  common  people  were  barbarians. 

The  above  account  of  the  state  of  Britain  before  the 
Brythonic  invasion  may  require  correction  in  parts.  Thus 
it  takes  no  notice  of  the  fact  that  some  authorities  put  the 
change  from  long  to  round  barrows  at  about  2000  B.C.  and 
regard  it  as  synchronizing  with  an  irruption  of  a  pre-Celtic, 
bronze-using,  brachycephalic  people.  We  have  rather  regarded 
the  change  from  long  to  round  as  separate  from  the  in- 
vasion of  the  bronze-users.  There  are  doubtless  many  other 
points  which  we  have  stated  dogmatically  which  are  highly 
contentious. 

Whatever  may  be  the  correct  view  as  to  the  date  of  the 
invasion  of  the  Celts,  or  of  the  change  from  long  to  round 
barrows,  or  of  the  introduction  of  bronze,  one  important  fact 
at  least  emerges  from  this  early  time.  The  pre-Celtic  in- 
habitants of  Britain  were  not  absolute  barbarians.  On  the 
hypothesis  that  the  pre-Celts  in  Britain  were  rude  savages 
neither  the  Circles  nor  the  Druids  can  be  explained.  Granted 
an  early  culture,  this  difficulty  melts  away.  It  is,  of  course, 
useless  to  pretend  that  Neolithic  man  and  man  of  the  early 
Bronze  Age  were  far  advanced.  The  contents  of  their  tombs 
refutes  it.  They  were,  however,  we  believe,  as  advanced  as, 
say,  the  Hittites.  The  food  vessels  which  come  from  their 
barrows  were  crude  in  manufacture,  but  many  of  the  shapes 

37 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

show  a  distinctly  artistic  sense.  If  we  are  right  in  regarding 
the  three  chalk  objects  (see  Plate  10)  found  in  a  child's  tomb 
as  belonging  to  this  period,  it  is  obvious  that  they  under- 
stood how  to  carve  and  draw  quite  well.  The  workmanship 
of  some  of  the  Stone  Age  remains  is  quite  advanced.1  The 
bowman's  wrist-guard  now  preserved  in  the  British  Museum, 
which  can  hardly  date  much  after  the  introduction  of  metal, 
is  most  beautifully  finished.  The  stone  will  be  found  to  be 
studded  with  gilded -bronze  studs.  Examples  could  easily  be 
added  to  show  that  although  art  and  the  manufacture  of 
common  objects  had  not  as  yet  progressed  very  far,  the  people 
of  even  the  Stone  Age  were  in  many  ways  civilized. 

The  early  bronze-users,  on  the  other  hand,  have  handed  down 
to  us,  as  we  have  seen,  many  beautifully  worked  and  delight- 
fully designed  objects  in  bronze,  besides  many  pieces  of  pottery, 
food  vessels,  incense-burners,  etc.  The  relative  developments 
of  the  two  races  (if  indeed  they  be  separate)  are,  however, 
extremely  difficult  to  determine  from  these  remains.  Bronze 
and  stone  are  such  different  media  to  work  in.  Still,  the 
introduction  of  bronze  is  clearly  an  advance,  though  quite 
possibly  it  might  have  been  made  by  a  people  less  developed 
in  other  respects  than  the  stone-users. 

THE  BRYTHONIC  INVASION 

With  the  coming  of  the  Brython  we  reach  firmer  ground. 
It  seems  to  be  fairly  established  that  the  Goidels  became  the 
object  of  the  Brythonic  conquest  some  time  about  the  sixth 
century  B.C.  At  first  the  scene  of  action  was  situated  on  the 
Continent,  perhaps  around  the  plains  of  Northern  Italy.  With 
this  we  are  not  concerned.  The  actual  invasion  of  Albion 
probably  took  place  some  time  between  the  visit  of  Pytheas 
and  the  coming  of  Caesar — i.e.  between  the  fourth  and  the  first 
century  B.C. 

The  invaders  came,  not  improbably,  from  the  Seine,  the 
Marne,  and  the  Rhine.  Certain  it  is  that  in  those  neighbour  - 

1  See,  e.g. ,  the  hammer-head  shown  in  Plate  3,  a  piece  of  work  which  could  not 
be  reproduced  to-day  without  the  aid  of  metal  tools  or  grinding  machinery. 

38 


PLATE  XI.     BRONZE  IMPLEMENTS,  SPEAR-HEADS,  ETC.,  FOUND  AT 

TY  MAWR  38 


THE    BRYTHONIC    CONQUEST 

hoods  extensive  burial-places  have  been  discovered  similar 
in  kind  to  the  Brythonic  barrows  of  Britain.  They  were,  of 
course,  Celts. 

The  most  important  peoples  who  came  into  Britain  about 
this  time  would  seem  to  be  the  Belgae  and  the  sub-tribes 
of,  e.g.,  the  Atrebates,  the  Parisii,  and  the  Brittani.  Caesar 
mentions  a  certain  Diviciacos  as  ruling  over  Britain.  This 
Diviciacos  was  a  prince  of  Gaul,  king  of  the  Suessiones, 
a  sub-tribe  of  the  Belgae,  and  probably  a  Druid.  He  was, 
if  not  actually  a  contemporary  of  Caesar,  not  far  removed 
from  him  in  point  of  time.  The  Atrebates,  who  apparently 
settled  in  Hampshire,  and  whose  chief  town  was  Calleva  (now 
Silchester),  came  from  the  Pas  de  Calais.  Their  name  lingers 
on  even  yet  in  the  form  Arras.  The  Belgae  proper  would  seem 
to  have  come  over  in  considerable  numbers  and  to  have  settled 
in  the  south  central  part  of  the  island.  The  Parisii  occupied 
the  south-east  of  Yorkshire,  and  are  not  unconnected  with 
the  tribe  who  have  given  their  name  to  Paris.  The  Brittani 
came,  not  improbably,  from  the  valley  of  the  Somme,  and 
occupied  what  is  now  Kent.  It  is  possible  that  they  were  the 
first  of  the  Brythonic  invaders.  Another  branch  of  the  same 
tribe  settled  in  north-western  France  ;  from  them  are  descended 
the  Bretons  of  to-day. 

By  the  time  of  the  Roman  occupation  it  would  appear  that 
these  Brythonic  tribes  had  settled  in  all  the  south  and  east  of 
what  is  now  England  and  Scotland — that  is  to  say,  as  far  north 
as  the  Firth  of  Forth.  Whether  they  had  reached  the  west 
is  unknown,  but  in  Staffordshire  we  read  of  a  Roman  station 
bearing  the  name  Pennocrucion — a  word  clearly  Brythonic 
in  form,  since  it  contains  the  '  p'  foreign  to  the  Goidelic  lan- 
guage.1 On  the  other  hand,  if  we  go  to  Wales  proper  for 
our  evidence,  it  would  appear  that,  roughly  speaking,  what 
was  in  later  times  called  Powys  was  probably  Brythonic,  at 
least  before  the  end  of  the  Roman  occupation. 

1  The  '  p '  and  '  qu '  forms  are  now  being  found  to  occur  occasionally  in 
Goidelic  and  Brythonic  respectively.  Both  '  p '  and  '  qu '  are  found  in 
Pictish.  See  E.  W.  B.  Nicholson,  Keltic  Researches. 

39 


HISTORY   OF    WALES 

South  Wales,  on  the  other  hand,  was  inhabited  mainly  by 
a  pre-Celtic  people,  the  Silures.  The  centre  of  this  tribe  may 
be  taken  for  convenience  as  Caerwent,  in  Monmouthshire, 
though  the  exact  limits  of  their  territory  are  unknown.1  They 
were  not  improbably  intermingled  with  the  Goidels,  and  later, 
as  we  shall  see,  they  took  a  prominent  part,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Caratacus,  in  resisting  the  Romans. 

Their  position  points  to  a  people  who  had  been  driven  back 
by  the  Brythons.  Bounded  by  the  Forest  of  Dean  and  the 
Severn  and  the  Bristol  Channel,  protected  by  the  Black 
Mountains,  they  held  a  position  of  great  natural  strength,  a 
position  to  which  a  people  oppressed  by  a  savage  and  war- 
like enemy  would  be  likely  to  flee. 

To  the  west  of  the  Silures,  in  the  part  of  Wales  called  in 
later  times  Dyfed,  was  another  pre-Celtic  race,  called  the 
Demetae  (from  whence  Dyfed  gets  its  name).  They  too  had 
probably  a  mixture  of  Goidelic  blood,  though  again  we  remind 
the  reader  that  modern  authorities  have  suggested  that  no 
Goidel  inhabited  Britain  at  this  time.  We  prefer  to  follow 
Sir  John  Rhys.  The  presence  of  these  Semites  can  be  seen 
to-day  in  southern  Wales.  Dark-haired,  dark-eyed,  bronzed, 
they  might  be  matched  by  men  from  Syria. 

As  to  the  north  of  Wales  the  position  is  more  difficult. 
The  inhabitants  here  were  probably  Celts  of  the  Goidelic  branch 
again  intermingled  with  pre-Celtics.  M6n  had  for  a  long  time 
been  the  centre  of  the  Druids.  To-day  more  cromlechs  are  to 
be  found  there  than  in  any  other  part  of  Wales  of  equal  size. 
It  was  probably  inhabited  by  a  confederacy  of  tribes  belonging 
to  the  older  stocks.  Further  than  that  we  cannot  go. 

In  Caesar's  time,  of  course,  no  part  of  what  is  now  Wales 
was  inhabited  by  Brythons.  It  was  still  part  of  Caesar's 
'  interior,'  the  refuge  ground  of  the  earlier  settlers,  who  were 
slowly  being  pushed  back  by  their  conquerors.  The  Brythonic 
conquest  of  central  Wales  took  place  probably  early  in  the 
Christian  era.  These  outposts  of  the  Brythons,  the  Ordovices, 

1  They  probably  occupied  the  lower  part  of  Wales  between  the  Severn  and 
the  Wye. 

40 


PI,ATE  XII.     BRONZE  MIRROR,  FOUND  ABOUT  1833  AT  TRELAN, 
ST.  KEVERNE,  CORNWALL 


40 


THE    BRYTHONIC    CONQUEST 

seem  to  have  established  themselves  in  central  Wales.  But 
as  time  went  on  the  earlier  settlers,  whom  they  had  driven 
to  the  mountains  of  the  north  and  south,  appear  to  have 
come  near  to  overwhelming  their  one-time  conquerors.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  we  find  the  Ordovices  some  time  about 
the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  A.D.  calling  in  the  aid 
of  a  Celtic  chieftain,  Cunedda  Wledig,  who  appears  to  have 
filled  the  post  of  leader  of  a  force  of  cavalry  and  was  occupied 
in  defending  the  Roman  wall  in  the  north,  and  who  was 
a  Christian.  King  Cunedda  responded  to  the  appeal,  sent 
his  sons  and  tribesmen  to  aid  the  Ordovices,  and  succeeded 
vicariously  in  founding  the  Brythonic  royal  house  of  Gwynedd. 
These  events,  which  belong  to  the  end  of  the  Roman  occu- 
pation, we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  again.  For  our 
present  purpose  it  is  sufficient  to  point  out  that  at  first  the 
Brythonic  conquest  was  restricted  to  southern,  eastern,  and 
midland  England ;  later  it  spread  to  central  Wales,  still  later  to 
Bryri  and  the  mountains  of  the  north. 

But  although  the  Brythonic  Celt  at  first  inhabited  England 
rather  than  Wales,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  when  the 
protection  of  Rome  was  removed  and  the  barbarian  hordes 
from  Scandinavia  and  Germany  bore  down  on  the  Brythons 
the  one-time  conquerors  were  in  turn  driven  from  the  fertile 
plains  of  England  to  the  mountains  of  the  west  and  north. 
We  can  still  hear  the  cry  of  the  vanquished  Celt,  preserved 
to  us  by  the  Brython  Gildas.  As  the  late  Dr.  Hodgkin  tells 
us  :  "In  446  the  poor  remnants  of  the  Britons  send  their 
celebrated  letter  to  that  Roman  general  whose  name  was  at 
the  time  most  famous  among  men :  the  letter  which  began, 
'  To  Aetius,  thrice  consul,  the  groans  of  the  Britons,'  and 
went  on  to  say,  '  The  barbarians  drive  us  to  the  sea  :  the 
sea  drives  us  back  on  the  barbarians  :  we  have  but  a  choice 
between  two  modes  of  dying,  either  to  have  our  throats  cut 
or  to  be  drowned/  "  As  all  the  world  knows,  Aetius  did  not 
respond.  He  was  too  busy  fighting  against  the  Huns  to  spare 
men  for  the  defence  of  Britain.  The  result  was,  we  believe, 
that  England  was  swept  well-nigh  from  shore  to  shore  by  the 

41 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

barbarians.  Save  in  a  subject  state,  the  earlier  inhabitants 
lived  no  longer  there.  They  still,  however,  continued  to  be 
free  in  the  west  and  north,  particularly  in  Cornwall,  Wales, 
and  Cumberland.  It  is  therefore  the  people  of  those  districts 
who  are  directly  descended  from  the  Celtic  races,  and  especially 
from  the  Brythons. 

Since,  then,  the  Welsh  of  to-day  are  directly  descended  from 
the  Brythons  (and  more  remotely  from  the  Semites  and 
Goidels),  since  they  are,  in  fact,  the  true  Britons,  some  account 
of  this  race  seems  desirable. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BRYTHONS 

The  Brythons,  like  the  Gauls,  were  men  of  much  physical 
beauty.  Tall,1  clean-shaven,  save  for  long  moustaches,  with 
clear  red  and  white  complexions  and  hair  of  yellow  or  golden 
brown,  which  they  sometimes  attempted  to  improve  with  dye, 
dressed  in  the  characteristic  Gallic  breeches,  with  a  bright- 
coloured  sleeved  tunic  and  a  woollen  cloak,  frequently  of  red 
or  crimson,  sometimes  intricately  decorated  with  a  chequered 
pattern,  and  fastened  at  the  throat  with  bronze  or  gold  brooches 
of  most  beautiful  design,  with  torques  of  gold  about  their  necks 
and  golden  bracelets  on  their  arms,  the  British  warriors 
appeared  indeed  to  belong  to  a  noble  race. 

BRYTHONIC  OR  LATE  CELTIC  ART 

Their  arms  were  no  whit  less  handsome  than  their  persons. 
Daggers,  swords,  shields,  helmets,  the  many  articles  of  offence 
and  defence  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  soldier's  armoury  in 
that  age,  were  all  designed  to  give  an  impression  of  stately 
beauty.  We  know  of  no  form  of  art  which  gives  such  a  feeling 
of  strength  as  does  that  of  the  Late  Celtic  period.  No  weak 
or  mean  line  will  ever  be  found  on  a  piece  of  I,ate  Celtic  work. 
Nor  were  they  only  artists;  they  were  also  craftsmen.  As 
Mr.  J.  Romilly  Allen  says  :  "  The  Celts  had  already  become 
expert  workers  in  metal  before  the  close  of  the  Bronze  Age  ; 

1  Strabo  tells  us  that  British  youths  were  six  inches  taller  than  the  tallest 
man  in  Rome. 

42 


PLATE  XIII.     BRONZE  AND  ENAMEL   SHIELD  OF 
LATE  CELTIC  WORK 


THE    BRYTHONIC    CONQUEST 

they  could  make  beautiful  hollow  castings  for  the  chafes 
of  their  sword-sheaths  ;  they  could  beat  out  bronze  into  thin 
plates  and  rivet  them  together  sufficiently  well  to  form  water- 
tight cauldrons  ;  they  could  ornament  their  circular  bronze 
shields  and  golden  diadems  with  repousse  patterns,  consisting 
of  corrugations  and  rows  of  raised  bosses  ;  and  they  were  not 
unacquainted  with  the  art  of  engraving  on  metals."  He  adds  : 
"  The  Celt  of  the  Early  Iron  Age  attained  to  a  still  higher  pro- 
ficiency in  metallurgy  than  his  predecessor  of  the  Bronze  Age." 

By  about  the  first  century  B.C.  I^ate  Celtic  art  had  probably 
reached  its  height.  Even  at  this  time  the  art  of  enamelling 
was  probably  extensively  practised  in  Britain.1  Some  of  the 
specimens  which  have  been  found  show  a  most  cultured 
artistic  sense.  Perhaps  one  of  the  best  examples  of  I,ate 
Celtic  work  is  the  shield  which  was  dredged  out  of  the  Thames 
near  Battersea.  Of  this  Allen  says  :  "  [It]  is  about  the  most 
beautiful  surviving  piece  of  I,ate  Celtic  metal-work.  .  .  .  No 
written  description  can  give  any  idea  of  the  subtle  decorative 
effect  produced  by  the  play  of  light  on  the  flamboyant  curves 
as  they  alternatively  expand  and  contract  in  width  and  rise  and 
fall  above  the  surrounding  level  background.  The  drawing 
of  the  curves  is  simply  exquisite,  and  their  beauty  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  sharp  line  used  in  all  cases  to  emphasize 
the  highest  part  of  the  ridge." 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  in  a  general  history  to  deal  more 
than  in  the  barest  outline  with  the  art  treasures  of  any  age. 
We  must  add,  however,  that  the  Brythons  have  left  us  many 
examples  of  objects  of  art  unconnected  with  either  warfare 
or  personal  adornment.  Thus  bronze  mirrors  have  been 
found  ;  also  a  few  pieces  of  decorative  wood- work,  one  of  which, 
a  tub  of  ash,  had  its  surface  covered  with  flowing  and  graceful 
curves  carved  into  the  wood.  We  have  also  remains  of  bronze 

1  Philostratus,  a  Greek  sophist  at  the  court  of  Julia  Domna,  wife  of  the 
Emperor  Severus,  writing  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  A.D.,  tells 
us  that  "  they  say  that  the  barbarians  who  live  in  the  ocean  pour  these 
colours  on  to  heated  brass,  and  that  they  adhere,  become  hard  as  stone,  and 
preserve  the  designs  that  are  made  upon  them."  He  was  about  three  hundred 
years  behind  the  times 

43 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

spoons  and  other  domestic  utensils.  Spinning  and  weaving 
must  have  been  extensively  practised.  From  almost  every 
inhabited  site  of  the  period  quantities  of  long-handled  weaving- 
combs,  spindle-wheels,  and  loom-weights  have  been  recovered. 
Antiquaries  have  also  found  many  objects  connected  with 
horsemanship.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Caesar  was 
astonished  and  surprised  at  the  wonderful  horsemanship  of 
the  Britons,  and  the  Gauls  for  centuries  supplied  Rome  with 
some  of  her  best  cavalry.  It  is  therefore  not  a  matter  for 
surprise  that  many  articles  relating  to  horsemanship  have  been 
preserved.  Bridles,  horse-trappings,  and  chariot-wheels  have 
been  found,  and  of  the  first-named  hundreds,  if  not  thousands, 
of  examples  are  known. 

It  is  to  this  period  that  we  must  date  the  introduction  of  the 
potter's  wheel  into  Britain.  It  is  upon  I/ate  Celtic  pottery  that 
the  circular  rings  which  show  that  it  was  turned  are  first  found. 
These  earthenware  vessels  naturally  gain  in  symmetry  from  the 
change.  The  general  lines  on  which  they  are  designed  are  not, 
however,  very  obviously  altered.  Perhaps  it  is  to  this  period 
also  that  we  should  ascribe  the  introduction  of  the  water-clock.1 
This  new  means  of  telling  the  time  consisted  of  a  large  bowl 
with  a  tiny  hole  in  the  bottom.  The  bowl  was  placed  on 
water  and  the  time  it  took  to  fill  was  observed.  That  gave 
a  constant  by  which  it  was  possible  to  divide  up  the  day 
and  night.  The  water-clock  was,  so  to  speak,  the  inverse  of 
the  hour-glass. 

The  Brythons  possessed  boats  and  ladders,  and  appear  to 
have  had  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  working  of  wood 
as  well  as  metal.  Commerce  was  not  unknown.  They  used 
coins,2  sometimes  of  gold,  which  were  modelled  on  those  of 
Philip  II  of  Macedon. 

DOMESTIC  ARRANGEMENTS  OF  THE  BRYTHONS 

It  was  perhaps  in  the  arrangement  and  equipment  of  their 
homes  that  the  Brythons  appeared  most  barbarous. 

1  It  is  possible  that  it  dates  from  the  Bronze  Age. 
1  For  an  account  of  these  coins  see  Note  B,  p.  415. 

44 


PI,ATE  XIV.     THE  AYLESFORD  PAII, 

A  good  example  of  Late  Celtic  work 


44 


THE    BRYTHONIC    CONQUEST 

the  Goidelic  dwelling-places,  the  huts  of  the  later  Celts  assorted 
ill  with  the  magnificence  of  their  occupants.  These  huts 
would  seem  to  have  been,  in  general,  circular  in  shape,  with 
clay  floors,  having  a  fireplace  in  the  centre.  The  walls  were  of 
timber  filled  in  with  wattle  and  daub.  Each  hut  was  entered  by 
a  door,  to  which  there  was  a  doorstep.  The  occupants  slept  upon 
straw  beds  covered  with  the  skins  of  animals  or  with  blankets 
of  wool.  The  huts  were  built  in  groups,  similar  to  the  ham- 
let. In  many  ways  these  domestic  arrangements  resembled 
those  of  the  later  homes  and  hamlets  of  the  Welsh. 

The  Brythons  would  appear  to  have  been  an  agricultural 
rather  than  a  pastoral  people.  They  reaped  their  grain  with 
iron  reaping-hooks,  and  probably  ploughed  with  oxen  and  not 
with  horses.  They  possessed,  of  domestic  animals,  besides 
the  horse  and  the  ox,  sheep,  swine,  goats,  dogs,  and  fowls. 

NATURE  OF  THE  BRYTHONS 

Without  entering  into  further  details,  we  believe,  from  what 
we  have  already  said,  that  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Brythonic 
warrior  who  conquered  this  island,  or  rather  the  major 
portion  of  it,  some  time  about  400  B.C.  was,  even  before  the 
coming  of  the  Romans,  by  no  means  a  savage,  hardly  a 
barbarian.  To  the  cultured  minds  of  Rome — Rome,  which 
had  emerged  from  its  own  Bronze  Age  only  a  few  centuries 
before — the  Gaul  and  the  Brython  appeared  as  rude  warriors 
fit  for  little  but  fighting.  They  observed  that,  though  brave 
and  warlike,  the  Celts  were  disputatious,  easily  provoked, 
generous,  unsuspicious  but  swayed  by  passion  rather  than 
by  reason,  and  easily  vanquished  by  stratagem.  As  M. 
Porcius  Cato  said,  "  There  are  two  things  to  which  the  Gauls 
are  devoted — the  art  of  war  and  subtlety  of  speech."  We  are 
also  told  that  they  were  very  eager  for  news.1  They  were,  we 
believe,  completely  dominated  by  their  priests,  the  Druids,  and 

1  Mr.  T.  W.  Rolleston  in  his  Myths  and  Legends  of  the  Celtic  Race  happily 
quotes  from  Edmund  Spenser  the  passage  :  "  The  Irish  use  commonlye  to 
send  up  and  down  to  know  newes,  and  yf  any  meet  with  another,  his  second 
woorde  is,  What  newes  ?  "  The  same  peculiarity  was  noticed  by  the  ancient 
travellers  in  Gaul. 

45 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

were  extremely  superstitious.     It  is  perhaps  desirable  to  warn 
the  reader  against  relying  too  much  on  the  Greek  and  Roman 


THE  GRAVE  PIT,  AYI«ESFORD 
From  Archaologia,  by  permission  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London.*] 

historians  when  they  write  of  the  Britain  of  pre-Roman  times. 
Did^not  Procopius,  writing  in  the  sixth  century  A.D.,  describe 
what  we  now  call  Scotland  as  a  place  where  no  man  could  live 
for  half  an  hour  on  account  of  the  unwholesomeness  of  the 


PI.ATE  XV.     A  BIIJNGUAI,  INSCRIPTION  FOUND  AT  NEVERN, 
PEMBROKESHIRE 

Photograph  of  a  rubbing 
From  "  Archceologia  Cambrensis,"  6th  Series,  vol.  xiii,  by  permission 


46 


THE   BRYTHONIC   CONQUEST 

air,  and  because  it  was  infested  with  vipers  and  all  kinds 
of  noxious  beasts?  Caesar's  knowledge  of  the  interior  of 
Britain  was  admittedly  small,  and  the  other  writers  who  touch 
on  Britain  (apart  from  the  Roman  occupation)  are  in  like  case. 
We  therefore  prefer  to  follow  the  evidence  of  the  burial-places. 
From  these  we  gather  that  the  Brythons  had  art ;  they  had  com- 
merce. Their  domestic  arrangements  were  rude,  perhaps,  but 
not  to  the  extent  of  being  barbarous.  They  practised  agriculture 
on  an  extensive  scale.  They  had,  we  believe,  if  not  a  litera- 
ture, at  least  a  large  number  of  legendary  poems  and  stories. 
We  shall  have  to  consider  in  a  subsequent  chapter  the  con- 
nexion between  that  mass  of  romance  which,  centring  round 
the  name  of  Arthur,  spread  over  well-nigh  the  whole  of  Europe, 
and  the  Brythonic  tales  which  have  been  preserved  to  us 
to-day  by  such  mediaeval  works  as  the  Red  Book  of  Hergest, 
the  Black  Book  of  Carmarthen,  and  the  Brut  Geoffrey  ap 
Arthur  (Geoffrey  of  Monmouth),  and  have  been  familiarized 
to  the  general  reader  by  the  delightful  translation  of  certain 
of  those  works  by  I^ady  Charlotte  Guest  in  her  Mabinogion. 
For  the  present  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  modern  authority 
has  almost  decided  that  the  Arthur  stories  are,  in  their  origin 
at  least,  as  old  as  the  Late  Celtic  art,  if  not  older.  Taking 
all  these  facts  together,  we  must  acquit  them  of  complete 
barbarity  in  spite  of  their  predilection  for  woad  when  preparing 
for  battle  ! 


47 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE   ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

NO  man  can  say  to-day  how  much  the  world  is  in- 
debted to  the  genius  of  Rome.  We  are  told  that 
East  is  East  and  West  is  West,  ages  apart  in  point 
of  development,  temperamentally  different  on  almost  every 
point.  Rome  is  the  West.  Her  civilization,  built  up  by 
men  of  matchless  prudence  and  practical  insight,  has  swayed 
the  Western  world  at  least  since  Caesar's  time.  Her  laws, 
the  foundation-stones  of  all  her  civil  greatness,  the  true 
creators  of  a  very  living  liberty,  are  to-day  in  operation  in 
almost  every  European  State.1  Her  very  wars  brought  bless- 
ings to  the  conquered  as  well  as  to  the  conquerors. 

When  Caesar  stepped  on  to  the  sands  of  Albion  he  saw  a 
race  of  men  brave  and  warlike,  men  who  had  some  knowledge 
of  the  arts  and  commerce  and  whose  native  vigour  was  in  the 
years  to  come  to  join  with  the  more  stolid  Teuton  in  the 
forming  of  a  race  destined  for  world-empire  ;  capable  of  a 
more  marvellous  gift  for  government  than  even  Rome  herself. 
Mighty  fighters  and  great  statesmen  were  to  spring  from  the 
junction  of  Celt  and  Saxon,  but  as  yet,  in  Caesar's  time,  the 
Celt  of  Britain  was  not  far  advanced  in  point  of  develop- 
ment from  those  brave  warriors  who,  well-nigh  four  centuries 
before,  had  in  their  turn  borne  down  on  Rome,  leaving  it  a 
broken  and  a  ravaged  city.  When  the  usurper  Constantine 
left  these  shores  in  407  and  the  Roman  occupation  was 
ended,  the  legions  left  behind  them  a  highly  civilized  and 
organized  community,  acquainted  with  Roman  government, 

1  Including,  in  our  opinion,  England,  though  there  are  many  who  claim 
for  English  law  an  indigenous  growth. 

48 


D  ROMAN    FORTS 

Q  Other  Roman  sites  including 


doubtful  forts 

(Other  sites  probably  not  Roman) 


MAP  OF  ROMAN  WAIVES 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

laws,  literature,  art,  and  architecture.  Was  it  not  a  native, 
a  Briton,  who,  in  the  panic  which  gripped  Romanized  Gaul 
when  the  Vandals  swept  down  on  southern  Europe,  dividing 
Gaul  and  Spain  and  the  north  from  the  protection  of  Rome, 
now,  alas  !  tottering  to  her  final  overthrow,  was  chosen  head 
of  the  government  in  England  and  invested  with  the  imperial 
purple,  crowned  with  a  diadem  and  surrounded  by  a  body- 
guard ?  Though  Gratian,  as  this  Briton  was  called,  was 
murdered  within  four  months,  his  elevation  shows  that  we  are 
now  no  longer  dealing  with  an  uncivilized  or  unenlightened 
people.  It  is  perhaps  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  Rome 
gave  the  Western  world  Government,  even  as  Greece  gave  it 
Art. 

CAESAR'S  EXPEDITIONS 

Of  Caesar's  abortive  attempt  at  conquest,  commencing  with 
the  mission  of  Commius,  the  embarkation  from  Cape  Gris- 
nez  on  August  26,55  B-c->  of  the  Seventh  and  Tenth  legions 
under  Caesar,  the  gallantry  of  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
Tenth  legion,  who  forced  his  comrades  to  follow  him  in  the 
attack  on  the  barbarians  lest  the  eagle  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy ;  of  the  attack  by  the  Brythons,  mounted 
on  horseback  or  in  chariots ;  of  their  eventual  defeat  and 
orderly  retreat;  of  the  destruction  of  a  large  part  of  the  Roman 
ships  by  an  unusually  high  tide  ;  of  the  subsequent  guerrilla 
warfare  and  ambuscades,  we  cannot  treat.  The  expedition 
was  a  failure  and  Caesar  returned  to  Gaul.  Next  year  a  larger 
force  set  sail  on  July  23  from  the  Portus  Itius.  Again  the 
ships  were  broken  by  a  storm,  again,  after  some  excursions 
against  Cassivellaunus,  Caesar  retired  to  Gaul.  He  never 
returned  to  the  attack.  Anxious  times  were  ahead — the 
massacre  by  the  Eburones,  the  revolt  of  Vercingetorix,  the 
sieges  of  Gergovia  and  Alesia.  It  was  reserved  to  Aulus 
Plautius,  a  senator  in  the  reign  of  Claudius,  to  lead  the 
successful  expedition  in  A.D.  43. 

As  to  the  ninety-seven  years  which  separate  these  expedi- 
tions, nothing  is  known  of  the  Britons  save  such^meagre 

D  49 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

details  as  may  be  gathered  from  their  coins.1  We  know  at 
least  the  names  of  King  Commius  (perhaps  the  same  person 
who  acted  as  ambassador  to  Caesar  and,  later,  joined  in  the 
revolt  of  Vercingetorix,  subsequently  submitting  to  Mark 
Antony  on  the  terms  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  dwell  in  a 
place  where  he  would  never  be  offended  by  the  sight  of  a 
Roman)  and  his  sons  Tincommius,  Verica,  and  Eppilus. 
Dubnovellaunus,  whose  name  appears  as  a  king  of  Britain 
on  the  walls  of  a  porch  in  a  temple  in  the  Turkish  town  of 
Angora,  also  struck  a  number  of  coins.  These  kings  probably 
reigned  south  of  the  Thames.  On  the  north  side  we  have 
coins  of  Tasciovanus,  whose  capital  was  at  St.  Albans,  and  his 
son  Cunobelinus,  the  Cymbeline  of  Shakespeare's  play  and 
the  Kymbelinus  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  Their  date  is 
about  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era.  It  was  against 
Cunobelinus  or  his  sons,  Caratacus  or  Caractacus  or  Caradoc 2 
and  Togodumnus,  that  Aulus  Plautius  mainly  fought.  They 
were  the  chiefs  of  the  Catuvellauni,  and  their  power  was  con- 
siderable until  the  Romans  broke  it,  chiefly  by  the  capture 
of  Camulodunum,  their  capital.  Cunobelinus  was  now  dead  ; 
Caratacus  escaped  to  Demetia  and  raised  up  the  Silures,  who 
dwelt  there,  to  make  a  final  effort  to  retain  their  liberty. 
By  A.D.  47  most  of  Britain  south  of  the  Thames  had  been 
brought  within  the  Empire.  In  that  year  Aulus  Plautius  left 
this  island,  being  succeeded  by  Ostorius  Scapula.  Almost  the 
first  act  of  the  new  legate  was  to  push  rapidly  over  the  central 
plains  to  Cheshire,  where  he  established  at  modern  Chester  the 
famous  military  base  whence  the  Twentieth  I/egion  was  to 
attempt  the  conquest  of  western  and  northern  Britain. 

The  success  which  had  met  the  Roman  arms  had  been, 
so  far,  very  considerable.  The  fields  of  what  is  now  southern 
and  central  England,  or  I/loegria,  were  in  their  hands.  Ostorius 
was  to  find,  however,  that  the  mountains  of  Wales  enabled 
their  holders  to  offer  a  very  different  resistance.  For  him  no 

1  See  Note  B,  p.  415. 

2  The  better  AVelsh  spelling  of  Caradoc  is  Caradog,  pronounced  not  unlike 
'  Craddock.' 

50 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

ovation  was  prepared  such  as  had  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Plautius. 
He  was  destined  to  die  a  few  years  hence,  worn  out  with  the 
fatigues  of  constant  warfare,  a  disappointed  if  not  a  broken 
man. 

At  the  moment,  however,  Fortune  continued  to  turn  her 
sightless  eyes  toward  Rome.  From  Chester  the  legionaries 
pushed  on  quickly  into  the  territory  of  the  Deceangi,  who 
occupied  the  district  called  in  later  times  Tegeingl,  the  modern 
Flintshire.  There  the  valuable  lead-mines  were  opened  and 
worked.  Perhaps  even  as  early  as  this  the  fort  at  Caerhun 
was  founded,  and  the  beginning  made  in  the  building  of  that 
series  of  minor  forts  and  blockhouses  which,  as  we  shall  see, 
was  eventually  adopted  as  the  only  way  in  which  to  bring 
these  brave  mountain  folk  to  subjection. 

CARATACUS 

From  the  north  Ostorius  passed  to  southern  Wales  and 
attacked  the  Silures  under  Caratacus.  These  Silures,  a 
Goidelic  or  perhaps  pre-Celtic  people,  would  appear  to  have 
made  a  lengthy  stand  against  the  Roman  arms.  The  campaign 
not  improbably  lasted  for  some  years,  and  •  we  can  quite 
believe  that  Garatacus  won  many  battles,  though  in  truth 
the  Roman  historian  slurs  over  this,  to  him,  unpleasant  part 
of  the  story.  The  end  of  his  leadership  came  with  what 
we  will  call  the  battle  of  Mount  Caradoc,  though  indeed  the 
exact  locality  is  disputed.  This  hill  overlooks  the  pretty 
little  town  of  Church  Stretton,  on  the  Welsh  border.1 

Caratacus  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  and  spurred  on 
his  followers  to  a  desperate  resistance.  Entrenched  behind 
a  roughly  made  wall,  these  poor  barbarian  patriots  who  fought 
the  Empire  for  their  freedom  were  for  a  time  successful,  but 
at  last  their  defence  was  pierced  and  the  well  trained,  equipped, 
and  armoured  legionaries  overwhelmed  the  irregular  and  ill- 
armed  ranks  of  the  defenders.  The  victory  was  complete, 

1  Many  opinions  have  been  held  as  to  the  exact  locality  of  the  battle. 
It  is  quite  uncertain  where  it  was  fought.  Several  authorites  favour  the 
I^eintwardine  site. 

51 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

though  Caratacus  himself  escaped  for  the  time  being.  His 
army  was  shattered,  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  his  kinsfolk 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror.  He  himself  was  shortly 
afterward  treacherously  surrendered  by  the  queen  of  the 
Brigantes,  a  tribe  located  in  Yorkshire,  loaded  with  chains. 
The  Romans  took  him,  his  wife,  child,  and  brethren,  captive  to 
Rome,  where  they  did  him  the  honour  of  declaring  a  public 
holiday  so  that  the  citizens  might  witness  the  submission  of 
this  brave  defender  of  his  country.  He  bore  himself  like  a 
man  and  was  pardoned  by  Claudius.  We  do  not  read  of  his 
return  to  Britain.  The  splendours  of  Rome  seem  to  have 
captivated  him. 

The  defeat  of  Caratacus  by  no  means  resulted  in  the 
immediate  break-up  of  the  resistance  of  the  Silures.  They 
continued  for  years  to  be  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Roman 
legate,  and  eventually  it  was  found  necessary  to  establish 
another  great  legionary  fortress  at  Caerleon-upon-Usk,  the 
Isca  Silurum  of  Tacitus.  This  great  centre  of  Roman  arms 
was  now  occupied  by  I,egio  II  Augusta,  and  from  this  strong- 
hold a  whole  chain  of  forts  and  blockhouses  was  built  with 
the  purpose  of  subduing  central  and  southern  Wales. 

BOADICEA 

It  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  history  of  Wales  to  consider 
in  any  detail  the  history  of  the  Roman  wars  which  followed, 
under  the  leadership  first  of  Didius  Callus  and  Veranius, 
and  later  of  Suetonius  (appointed  legate  A.D.  59).  We  must, 
however,  mention  the  terrible  massacre  of  the  Roman  colony 
at  Camulodunum  (Colchester),  and  of  the  Ninth  legion, 
which  was  surprised  while  marching  to  its  rescue.  This 
was  the  work  of  Boadicea,1  queen  of  the  Iceni,  a  Brythonic 
tribe,  which  had  been  roused  to  madness  by  the  usurious 
exactions  of  that  money-lending  philosopher  Seneca  (who 
had  lent  some  10,000,000  sesterces  at  ruinous  rates  to  these 
people,  and  later  suddenly  called  in  his  loans)  and  by  the  ill- 
treatment  of  the  widow  and  the  violation  of  the  daughters  of 

1  More  correctly  Boudicca. 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

King  Prasutagus,  late  king  of  the  tribe.  His  widow  was  this 
Boadicea,  who  is  described  by  the  Greek  historian  Dion 
as  a  woman  tall  of  stature,  hard-faced  and  fierce-eyed,  with 
long  yellow  hair  reaching  down  to  her  girdle. 

At  the  time  this  massacre  occurred  Suetonius  was  attempt- 
ing the  conquest  of  the  Druids  of  Anglesey.     The  Roman  leader 
had  succeeded  in  clearing  away  part  of  the  sacred  groves 
which  for  so  long  had  been  the  silent  witnesses  of  the  human 
sacrifices   which   were   part   of   the   rites   of   the   priests  of 
Druidism,  but  before  Anglesey  was  completely  conquered  the 
terrible  news  of   Camulodunum  arrived.      Suetonius  hastily 
gathered  his  forces,  and  by  forced  marches  reached  I,ondinium, 
which  now  for  the  first  time  appears  on  the  pages  of  history. 
His  army  consisted  of  the  Fourteenth  and  part  of  the  Twentieth 
lyegion.     In  the  meantime  Verulam  (St.  Albans)  had   been 
put  to  the  sword  by  Boadicea.     Suetonius,  to  his  dismay, 
learnt  that  the  commander  of  the  Second  Region  had  remained 
at  his  station  at  Caerleon-upon-Usk,  although  he  had  been 
appealed   to   for   aid.     He   therefore  found  it  necessary  to 
abandon  I^ondon  in  order  to  effect  the  junction  of  his  forces 
with  the  remainder  of  the  Ninth  legion,  which  had  managed 
to  reach  I,incoln,  and  such  part  of  the  Twentieth  as  he  had 
left  at  Chester.     Boadicea  sought  to  prevent  this,  and  con- 
stantly harried  the  Roman  general  in  his  northward  march. 
At  last  the  Romans  decided  on  battle.     The  result  was  an 
overwhelming  victory  for  the  legionaries,  who  are  said  to  have 
slaughtered  some  80,000  of  the  Britons  for  a  loss  of  some 
800  on  their  own  side.     Boadicea  herself  died  either  by  poison 
self-administered  or  by  disease.     Almost  simultaneously  the 
leader    of    the    Second    legion    ended    his    life    with    his 
sword.     The    result    of    the    insurrection    was    that    Rome 
decided  on  a  more  pacific  policy,  and  Suetonius  was  recalled 
in  A.D.  61. 

Following  Suetonius  came  Julius  Frontinus  He  pushed  on 
into  Wales,  having  beforehand  completed  the  conquest  of  the 
south.  Wales  too  he  reduced  to  a  temporary  obedience,  and 
between  the  years  74-78  he  finally  subdued  the  Silures.  The 

53 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Ordovices  of  North  Wales  were  still,  however,  untamed. 
Affairs  were  in  this  state  when  Agricola  was  appointed  legate 
in  A.D.  78. 

AGRICOLA 

Almost  on  his  arrival,  though  it  was  now  autumn,  he 
decided  on  a  disciplinary  campaign  against  the  Ordovices  of 
north  central  Wales,  who  had  lately  destroyed  a  squadron 
of  Roman  cavalry.  Agricola  marched  against  them  with 
an  army  of  legionaries  and  allies.  The  Ordovices  wisely 
retired  to  the  hills  of  Denbighshire.  Agricola  followed  and 
defeated  them,  and,  pushing  onward,  reached  the  Menai  Strait. 
This  narrow  stretch  of  water  offered  an  obstacle  to  further 
advance,  for  the  Romans  had  no  ships.  Nothing  daunted, 
Agricola  sent  over  swimmers.  Surprised,  and  remembering 
the  havoc  which  Suetonius  had  wrought  among  them,  the 
islanders  refrained  from  giving  battle  and  submitted. 

Agricola  now  set  himself  the  statesmanlike  task  of  proving 
to  the  barbarians  that  they  lost  little  by  being  conquered  by 
Rome.  He  cleansed  the  administration,  fostered  art  and 
architecture,  encouraged  building,  and  had  the  more  important 
natives  educated  in  the  liberal  sciences  and  (perhaps  to  their 
great  harm  and  final  undoing)  taught  them  the  meaning 
of  luxury.  Not  improbably  he  also  introduced  Roman  law 
and  the  principles  of  Roman  commerce.  We  believe  that  the 
Roman  system  of  marketing,  with  market  law  and  a  market 
judge,  was  introduced  in  early  times  into  Britain  and  lived  on 
in  full  force  into  Anglo-Saxon  days,  the  curule  aediles  of 
the  Romans  being  represented  later  by  the  '  portgeref a '  of 
the  dooms  of  Aethelstan.  It  may  be  that  it  came  in  under 
the  wise  government  of  Agricola.  We  think  it  is  evident  that 
the  laws  of  Howel  Dha  ('the  Good'),  the  great  Welsh  code 
of  the  tenth  century,  contained  many  rules  based  on  Roman 
law.  Whether  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Welsh  traced 
themselves  from  the  Brythons,  who  had  for  centuries  lived 
under  Roman  rule  and  probably  Roman  law,  or  whether  the 
Welsh  lawyers  who  compiled  these  laws  had  before  them  the 

54 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

Continental  codes,  which  in  their  turn  borrowed  much  from 
Rome,  we  are  not  prepared  to  say. 

Agricola,  while  thus  engaged  in  the  higher  arts  of  conquest, 
was  not  permitted  to  pursue  a  purely  pacificist  policy.  There 
were,  in  the  years  that  followed,  numerous  excursions,  battles, 
and  victories.  With  these  we  are  not  concerned.  Agricola 
evidently  pursued  the  military  plan  of  reducing  the  country 
to  subjection  or  impotence  by  a  well  linked  up  system  of 
fortified  camps. 

It  is  these  very  forts  and  camps,  together  with  the  civilian 
towns  which  grew  up  around  them,  that  tell  us  most  about 
the  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  which  separate  the 
recall  of  Agricola  from  the  final  departure  of  the  legions 
from  Britain.  As  Professor  Haverfield  has  said,  "  The  spade 
is  mightier  than  the  pen,"  and  although  he  has  accused  Welsh 
antiquaries  of  failing  to  scratch  the  soil  in  search  of  knowledge, 
he  has  well-nigh  remedied  the  neglect,  and  has  given  us  an 
adequate  account  of  the  Roman  military  occupation  of  this 
land  of  mountains. 

PACIFICATION  OF  WALES 

It  is  probable  that  we  can  date  the  building  of  most  of  these 
forts  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  first  century  A.D.  The  military 
result  was  the  pacification  of  Wales.  Professor  Haverfield 
has  told  us  that  "  From  the  autumn  of  78  onwards  we  hear  no 
more  of  Welshmen  armed  against  Rome.  The  tribes  of  north 
Britain  rose,  not  once  only,  but  once  every  twenty  years,  till 
near  the  end  of  the  second  century.  The  tribes  of  Wales  did 
not  move.  Forty  or  fifty  years  later  Roman  authority  was  so 
strong  that  garrisons  could  be  reduced  and  troops  could 
be  withdrawn  from  some  of  the  fortified  camps  which  guarded 
the  country." 

Let  us  now  see  what  brought  about  this  change  of  affairs. 
The  starting-points  were  the  legionary  fortresses  of  Chester 
(Twentieth  Region)  and  Caerleon  (Second  Legion),  some 
twelve  miles  to  the  north-east  of  Cardiff.  Beginning  with 
these  as  centres,  forts  were  planted  in  North  Wales  at  Caerhun, 

55 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Caernarvon,  Tomen-y-Mur,  Caergai,  Pennal,  Caersws,  Caerflos, 
Wroxeter,  and  Hope.  It  is  also  believed  that  there  was  a 
small  blockhouse  built  in  Anglesey,  and  many  small  forts 
other  than  those  mentioned  above  were  doubtless  scattered 
over  North  Wales.  In  the  south,  starting  with  Caerleon 
as  centre,  we  have  remains  of  forts  at  Caerwent,  Cardiff, 
Aber,  Caermarthen,  Cwmbrwyn,  Coelbren,  midway  between 
Caerleon  and  Caermarthen,  Penydarren,  a  little  farther  to 
the  east,  Gellygaer,  midway  between  Penydarren  and  Caerleon. 
Still  farther  east,  making  an  apex  to  the  equilateral  triangle 
having  the  line  between  Caerleon  and  Caerwent  as  base,  was 
Usk.  Farther  north  was  Abergavenny,  while  nearly  forty 
miles  to  the  north-east  the  fort  at  Ivlandovery,  with  the  famous 
camp  of  Gaer  linking  them  up,  was  placed.  Connecting  this 
post  with  the  forts  of  the  north  were  Castell  Collen  to  the  north- 
east and  lylanio  to  the  north-west. 

To  mention  all  the  smaller  blockhouses  which  excavations 
and  research  have  discovered  would  be  to  burden  the  text 
unduly  with  place-names.1  It  is,  however,  desirable  to  enter 
upon  a  short  description  of  these  forts,  the  roads  joining 
them,  and  the  objects  of  interest  which  have  been  found 
in  them. 

ROMAN  FORTS 

These  military  stations  were  of  three  kinds  :  (i)  legionary 
fortresses,  capable  of  holding  the  5000  men  who  made  up  a 
legion,  with  their  arms  and  equipment,  including  food-stuffs  ; 
(2)  forts  to  be  held  by  a  cohort  or  ala  of  500  (cohors  quingenaria 
if  of  foot-soldiers,  ala  quingenaria  if  of  cavalry)  or  1000  men 
(cohors  miliaria,  ala  miliaria)  ;  (3)  blockhouses,  manned  by 
outposts,  whose  number  would  vary  according  to  necessity. 

1  Roman  remains  have  been  found  at  Hay  ;  Ffrith ;  Pontrufydd  Hall ; 
Rhyddgaer  (the  small  blockhouse  in  Anglesey  referred  to  in  the  text); 
Dolaucothy  and  Pumpsaint,  in  the  parish  of  Caio,  where  gold-mines  were 
worked  by  the  Romans ;  Penygaer,  midway  between  Gaer  and  Abergavenny  ; 
Neath  and  Loughor,  on  the  South  Wales  coast ;  and  at  Pyle,  Castle  Flemish, 
and  Ford,  near  St.  David's.  Some  of  these  remains  leave  it  doubtful  whether 
forts  were  built  in  some  of  the  places  mentioned. 

56 


PLATE  XVII.    SKATED  FIGURE  OF  A 
GODDESS 

From  "  Archtfologict,"  vol.  l.rii,  bv  permission  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

In  none  of  the  military  posts  were  women  permitted  to  reside. 
In  none  were  civilians  allowed  to  live.  In  none  were  baths 
to  be  found.  It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  Roman  soldier 
did  not  bathe.  The  Romans  had  a  saying  that  they  con- 
quered the  world  with  the 
strigil *  rather  than  with  the 
sword.  The  meaning  of  this 
was  that  the  bath,  together 
with  the  gymnastic  exercises 
connected  therewith,  ren- 
dered the  muscles  so  supple 
and  strong  that  the  Roman 
soldier  rarely  met  his  match 
in  hand-to-hand  fighting. 
It  is  therefore  to  be  ex- 
pected that  a  bath  would 
generally  be  found  near  a 
fort.  In  fact,  these  were 
always  placed  just  outside 
the  fort  wall,  near  a  well  or 
a  stream.  The  bath  used 
was  the  hot-air  type  invented 
by  Sergius  Grata,  who  lived  ROMAN  STRIGII.S 

in  the  time  of  I,.  Crassus, 

the  orator.2  These  baths  were  doubtless  placed  outside  the 
camp  for  the  same  reason  that,  in  the  laws  of  Howel,  forbade 
baths  and  smithies  within  a  defined  distance  of  a  hamlet — the 
risk  of  fire  was  too  great. 

The  fort  itself,  whether  large  or  small,  was  generally  of  the 
same  type.  Enclosed  by  a  rectangular  wall  having  rounded 

1  The  scraper  used  like  the  rubber  in  a  modern  Turkish  bath.  It  was  the 
emblem  of  the  bath,  and  a  representation  of  it  was  frequently  sculptured 
over  the  main  doorway. 

•  We  need  hardly  remind  the  reader  that  the  bath,  though  a  source  of 
Roman  strength  in  the  beginning,  was  a  cause,  among  many  others,  of 
Roman  decadence.  Such  practices  as  bathing  in  asses'  milk  or  in  water 
loaded  with  perfumes  became  fasliionable.  Mixed  bathing,  of  course,  early 
became  common,  and  in  the  later  Empire  an  altogether  extravagant  amount 
of  ti.ne  and  money  were  spent  on  the  baths. 

57 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

corners  and  sometimes  protected  by  one  or  two  ditches, 
the  main  buildings,  which  were  sometimes  of  stone,  some- 
times of  brick,  and  sometimes  of  wood,  or  an  admixture  of 
all  three,  consisted  of  a  central  headquarters  for  the  officers, 
commandant,  and  staff,  a  granary  and  stables,  and,  as  a  rule, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  central  building  a  series  of  barracks  for 
the  soldiers.  Between  the  outer  wall  and  the  inner  buildings 


PI.AN  OF  A  ROMAN  FORT  AT  HOUSESTEADS,  ON  HADRIAN'S  WAI.I, 

From  Professor  F.  J.  Haverfield's  Military  Aspects  of  Roman  Wales, 
by  permission  of  the  author. 

was  a  parade-ground,  entered  from  the  outside  by  four  door- 
ways symmetrically  placed. 

Outside  the  walls  of  the  fort,  as  time  went  on,  a  small  or 
large  town  would  grow  up.  The  inhabitants,  taking  advantage 
of  the  peace  which  the  presence  of  the  soldiers  created,  drove 
a  thriving  trade  with  the  soldiers,  each  other,  and  the  surround- 
ing districts.  As  a  natural  development,  we  find  definite 
industries  being  established  in  certain  places,  perhaps  by 
the  townsmen ;  though  it  is  probable  that  the  soldiers  kept 


PI.ATE  XVIII.    CAERWENT  :    THE  ROUND  TEMPLE  58 

From  "  Archcsologia,"  by  permission  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

in  their  own  hands  the  profits  which  accrued  from,  if  not 
the  working  of,  the  copper-,  lead-,  and  gold-mines  which  were 
opened  in  Wales. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ROMAN  CIVILIZATION  ON  BRITAIN 

It  will  of  course  be  known  to  the  reader  that  the  Roman 
army  was  a  long-service  force.  It  was  a  life-work  to  be  a 
Roman  soldier,  and  consequently  it  was  necessary  to  provide 
the  worn-out  veteran  with  a  means  of  livelihood  after  his 
retirement  from  the  service.  The  means  adopted  was  the 
granting  of  land,  rent  and  tax  free,  sometimes  the  granting 
of  citizenship  (many  of  the  auxiliary  forces  were  made  up  of 
peregrini,  or  of  persons  holding  the  status  of  Latins) ,  with  its 
many  advantages.  Further,  from  quite  early  times  in  the 
Empire  the  soldier  on  service  was  allowed  to  keep  the  profits 
of  war  (peculium  castrense),  which  did  not,  like  all  other  kinds 
of  property,  pass  to  the  head  of  his  family  (his  agnatic  pater). 
The  result  was  that  many  retired  soldiers,  some  of  whom 
had  doubtless  made  fortunes  in  the  course  of  their  military 
careers,  were  dotted  up  and  down  England  and  Wales, 
established  in  broad  acres  and  housed  in  pleasant  villas  of  the 
Roman  type.1 

Another  result  flowed  from  the  long-service  system.  Inter- 
marriage with  the  people  of  the  district  governed  was  in- 
evitable. We  will  not  torment  the  reader  with  an  account 
of  the  laws  (which  date  from  the  first  century  of  the  Empire) 
dealing  with  intermarriage  between  the  various  classes  which 
made  up  the  Roman  state.  It  is  fairly  obvious,  however, 

1  With  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  Roman  occupation  and  as  to  whether  it 
was  purely  military  or  whether  it  profoundly  affected  the  people  of  early 
Britain,  we  consider  the  matter  later.  We  add  here  the  account  given  by 
Giraldus  of  Caerwent  as  it  existed  in  his  day.  "  Many  signs  of  its  former 
splendour  are  still  visible  :  great  palaces  ornamented  in  past  times  with  gilded 
roofs,  in  imitation  of  Roman  magnificence,  for  they  were  first  raised  by  Roman 
princes,  and  beautified  with  fine  buildings ;  a  town  of  immense  size,  remarkable 
hot  baths,  remains  of  temples  and  theatres,  all  encircled  by  fine  walls,  parts 
of  which  still  remain.  You  may  find  there  on  all  sides,  both  within  and 
without  the  walls,  underground  buildings,  aqueducts,  subterraneous  passages  ; 
and,  what  I  think  deserves  notice,  stoves  contrived  with  strange  art  to 
transmit  the  heat  insensibly  through  narrow  tubes  passing  up  the  side  walls." 

59 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

that  these  enactments  had  in  view,  partly  at  any  rate,  the 
Roman  soldier  who  was  fighting  Rome's  battles  on  the  frontier. 
The  result  was  to  bring  the  wife  and  the  children  within  the 
sacred  class  of  Roman  citizens.  In  many  cases,  in  well-nigh 
all,  she  became  as  high  in  social  status  as  a  Junian  Latin. 
She  was,  in  fact,  neither  a  concubine  nor  a  slave.  The  result 
was  highly  important  both  to  Rome  and  to  its  subject 
states.  When  all  is  done  and  said,  the  bonds  which  spring 
from  matrimony  are  one  of  the  great  binding  forces  of  the 
world.  It  is  therefore  desirable  to  point  out  that  for  at  least 
three  centuries  twelve  thousand  Roman  soldiers — many  of  them 
citizens  of  Rome — were  intermarrying  with  British  women, 
and  the  children  of  these  unions  would  be  Roman  citizens  in 
many  cases.  Considering  that  Britain  at  that  time  was  not 
thickly  populated,  remembering  that  about  10,000  of  these 
troops  were  located  in  or  near  Wales,  and  bearing  in  mind  that 
many  of  these  soldiers,  having  married  and  having  had  families, 
doubtless  retired  to  pleasant  villas  to  spend  the  evening  of 
their  lives  in  ease  and  plenty  with  their  British  wives  and 
Brito- Roman  children,  it  will,  we  believe,  be  clear  to  the 
reader  that  the  Roman  occupation  must  have  affected  very 
vitally  the  lives  of  the  people  of  this  island. 

ROMANIZATION    OF   BRITAIN 

Remembering  the  saying  of  Strabo  that  the  Celts  were  a 
people  eager  for  culture,  we  cannot  be  surprised  to  find  scattered 
all  over  England  and  Wales  remains  which  show,  we  believe 
quite  clearly,  that  the  Celts  of  both  England  and  Wales  were, 
toward  the  end  of  the  occupation,  fairly  imbued  with  the 
Roman  civilization.  Until  within  quite  recent  years  the  view 
most  commonly  taken  by  historians  has  been  that  the  occupa- 
tion was  purely  military  and  that  the  evidence  of  Roman  luxury 
is  limited  to  small  areas  surrounding  military  posts.  The  writers 
who  argue  thus  support  their  contentions  by  pointing  out  that 
inscriptions  found  relate  mainly  to  soldiers  and  rarely  to 
civilians  ;  that  the  privileged  municipalities  were  few ;  that 
the  native  speech  (now  Welsh)  differs  entirely  from  Latin  and 
60 


Pi, ATE  XIX.     BIUNGUAI,  SEPULCHRAI,  MONUMENT 


60 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

has  derived  but  few  words  from  Latin.     We  confess  that  we 
should  have  thought  the  burden  of  evidence  pointed  the  other 
way.     It  is  true  that  the  occupation  was,  if  we  view  the  matter 
narrowly,  a  military  one,  but  the  disposition  of  the  legions — 
viz.  the  Second  at  Caerleon-upon-Usk  (later  to  Richborough, 
near  the  Isle  of  Thanet),  the  Ninth,  or  subsequently  the  Sixth 
(after  the  final  destruction  of  that  legion  by  the  barbarians 
in  the  reign   of  Hadrian),  at   York,  and  the  Twentieth  at 
Chester — shows  that  it  was  almost  entirely  directed  against 
what  is  now  Wales  on  the  west  and  Caledonia  or  Scotland 
on  the  north  (and  later  against  the  Saxon  pirates,  who  were 
already  beginning  to  be  troublesome,  on  the  south-east).     It 
is  fairly  clear  that  the  bulk  of  the  soldiers  in  Britain  were 
generally  employed   in   keeping   the   Wall    which  stretched 
from  the  Tyne    to    the   Solway,  or  in  guarding  the  Welsh 
marches.     The  part  of  Britain  now  called  England  would  seem 
to  have  been  peaceful.     This  is  shown  by  the  Roman  remains 
which  we  find  all  over  England — magnificent  roads,  villas, 
towns,  inscriptions   showing   the   prevalence   of   the   Roman 
religions,  including  Mithraism  (which,  Oriental  in  origin,  seems 
to  have  been  well  favoured  by  the  soldiers  in  Britain)  and 
Christianity,  which,  of  course,  was  the  dominant  religion  of 
the  Empire  after  the  accession  of  Constantine,  and  probably 
long   before — it  quite    possibly  was  introduced  into  Britain 
in  the  second  century,  or  even  earlier;     It  is  also  shown  by 
the  vast  commercial  advance  made  by  the  country,  an  advance 
which  alone  can  account  for  the  cosmopolitan  crowds  which 
came  into   Britain  about  this  time.     Many  of  these  were 
doubtless  soldiers  who  had  been  enlisted  in  far-off  provinces,  but 
that  does  not  explain  the  presence  of  a  Syrian  merchant  whose 
memory  is  preserved  to  us  in  those  touching  lines  engraved 
in   two  languages  on  a  sepulchral  monument,  which  tell  of 
his  love  for  his  wife  Regina,  a  Briton.     After  a  fuller  Latin 
inscription   follows    one   in    Oriental   characters.     It  reads : 
"  Regina,   the  freedwoman    of   Barate,   alas ! "     This   same 
stone  also  represents  this  British  woman,  sometime  a  slave, 
holding  a  jewel-box  and  implements  of  needlework. 

61 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Again,  is  not  the  civilizing  influence  of  Rome  proved  by 
such  discoveries  as  that  of  a  glass  manufactory  of  considerable 
size  which  has  been  found  near  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal 
at  Warrington  ?  The  enormous  number  of  examples  of  Samian 
ware,  coins,  and  objects  of  domestic  ornament  scattered  up 
and  down  the  country  point  the  same  way. 

It  is  a  moot  point,  but  one  which  deserves  much  attention, 
as  to  whether  the  form  of  land  tenure  which  existed  in 
Wales  for  centuries,  and  which  lived  on  in  England  in  a 
modified  form  and  was  merged  into  the  Continental  feudal 
system  (with  an  important  variation  due  to  the  political 
genius  of  William  I),  is  not  descended  from  the  Roman  villa 
system.  We  believe  that  this  and  similar  questions  can  only 
be  rightly  understood  when  the  fact  is  appreciated  that  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  when  they  invaded  Britain,  were  barbarians 
invading  a  rich  and  prosperous  country  inhabited  in  the 
main  by  a  highly  civilized  people.  These  people,  the  Brythons, 
were,  of  course,  the  direct  ancestors,  not  of  the  English,  but 
of  the  Welsh. 

ROMAN  ROADS 

In  one  direction,  however,  the  Romans  bequeathed  less  to 
Wales  than  to  England.  Their  roads,  which  traverse  England 
in  many  directions,  have  left  few  traces  in  Wales.  One  of  the 
best  known  is  perhaps  that  which  runs  southward  from  Caerhun 
over  the  hills  to  western  Merionethshire  and  thence  to  South 
Wales.  Even  this  road,  known  to  the  country-folk  for  centuries 
by  the  name  of  Sarn  Helen,  is  only  capable  of  identification 
with  complete  certainty  for  a  distance  of  ten  or  twelve  miles. 
Again,  from  the  Itinerary  of  Antoninus  and  from  milestones 
which  have  been  recovered  we  know  that  a  road  ran  from 
Caermarthen  along  the  south  coast  of  Wales  to  the  legionary 
fortress  of  Isca  Silurum  (Caerleon-upon-Usk),  but,  as  Professor 
Haverfield  says,  "  Not  a  yard  of  it  can  be  laid  down  for  certain 
on  the  map."  He  adds :  "  We  can  trace  a  road  from  Llanio 
by  I/landovery  to  the  Gaer  near  Brecon,  and,  as  it  seems,  down 
the  Usk  valley  to  Caerleon.  Here,  too,  a  long  void  inter- 
62 


PLATE  XX.     ROMAN  MILESTONE,  FOUND  AT  RHIWIAU,  I/LANFAIR  - 

FECHAN,  co.  CARNARVON  62 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

venes  in  the  middle  between  Brecon  and  Abergavenny,  and 
the  section  from  Abergavenny  to  Caerleon,  though  attested 
by  the  Itinerary,  has  not  yet  been  discovered  on  the  ground." 
The  roads  near  Caersws  and  the  road  across  the  Glamorgan 
hills  are  in  like  case.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  they 
are  there,  but  few  traces  of  actual  remains  are  known,  and 
as  to  the  other  Roman  roads  in  Wales  we  have  no  knowledge 
at  all. 

ROMAN  POTTERY  AND  REMAINS 

Though  Wales  is  thus  defective  in  remains  of  Roman  roads, 
it  possesses  perhaps  its  fair  share  of  the  treasures  which  have 
been  dug  out  from  the  ruins  of  Roman  cities  and  houses  in 
England.  Caerwent  and  Wroxeter  are  of  course  the  two 
most  important  towns  in  Roman  Wales.  These  places  seem 
quite  early  to  have  become  centres  of  civil  rather  than  military 
activity.  To  enter  upon  an  adequate  account  of  these  remains 
is  both  impossible  and  undesirable  in  a  general  history  of 
Wales.  We  cannot  stay  to  consider  the  town-hall,  the  baths, 
the  blacksmith's  forge,  the  shops  of  Uriconium  (or,  to  use  its 
earlier  name,  Viroconium),  nor  may  we  deal  with  the  modern 
excavations  at  Caerwent.  It  may,  however,  be  permissible 
to  add  a  few  notes  on  Roman  pottery. 

The  most  important  kind  of  Roman  pottery,  and  the  only 
kind  which  we  shall  consider,  is  that  known  as  Samian  ware. 
Within  recent  years,  thanks  mainly  to  the  researches  of  Hans 
Dragendorff,  Konstantin  Koenen,  and  J.  Dechelette,  some 
strides  have  been  made  toward  the  dating  of  the  various 
specimens  of  Samian  which  have  been  discovered  in  various 
parts  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Styles  and  types  have  been 
classified,  and  the  numbers  assigned  to  the  various  types  by 
Dr.  Dragendorff  have  passed  into  current  use. 

The  types  most  commonly  found  in  Wales  are  numbers 
29  and  37.  Occasionally  30  is  also  found.1  Form  29,  which 
is  somewhat  fragile,  being  moulded  or  turned  very  thinly,  is 

1  In  the  descriptions  which  follow  we  are  dealing  with  vases  in  shape 
something  like  a  modern  flower-bowl  or  flower-pot. 

63 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

distinguishable  by  a  rim  having  a  kind  of  engine-turned 
surface  and  a  bend  in  the  middle  of  its  side  which  divides  the 
decoration  into  two  separate  bands.  The  decorations  are 
formal  or  consist  of  animal  shapes.  Representations  of  human 
figures  occur,  but  are  rare.  Its  period  is  about  A.D.  30-85. 
It  was  therefore  in  use  in  Britain  for  a  comparatively  few 
years.  Form  37  came  into  use  about  A.D.  65-70.  It  had  the 
advantage  of  being  much  stronger  than  Form  29,  but  its  glaze 
was  inferior.  It  was  probably  cheap,  and  is  found  in  great 
quantity.  These  qualities  kept  it  in  favour  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  It  was  hemispherical  in  shape,  with  a  plain 
rim.  Its  style  of  decoration  varied  with  the  period,  but  as 
time  went  on  the  presence  of  human  figures,  sometimes  isolated, 
sometimes  in  groups,  became  common.  Form  30  is  so  rarel 
found  in  Wales  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  consider  it.  I 
was  in  shape  straight-sided  and  cylindrical. 

This  ware  was  largely  imported  mainly  from  Gaul  and 
Germany.  The  Welsh  imported  examples  nearly  all  came 
from  the  Lezouz  potteries,  in  the  Allier  valley.  Even  the  names 
of  the  potters  have  been  preserved  to  us.  Of  the  artists  who 
worked  at  I^ezouz  perhaps  Divixtus,  Butrio,  and  Libertus  were 
the  best  known.  Many  examples  of  pottery  which  have  come 
down  to  us  are,  of  course,  of  local  manufacture. 

FAMOUS  ROMANS  IN  BRITAIN 

We  cannot  leave  this  chapter  of  Welsh  history  to  turn  to  the 
rude  cruelties  that  await  us  without  some  note  or  comment 
on  the  great  names  which  pass  before  us  as  we  study  the 
slender  materials  which  compose  the  history  of  Britain  for  this 
present  period.  As  every  one  knows,  Hadrian  paid  a  lengthy 
visit  to  Britain,  and,  according  to  some  authorities,  built  the 
Roman  wall  (the  one  between  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway ;  the 
more  northerly  wall,  between  the  Firth  of  Forth  and  the  Clyde, 
was  built  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius) .  The  next  great  visitor 
whom  we  shall  mention  is  Septimius  Severus,  who,  though  racked 
with  gout,  old  and  ill,  pushed  on  for  months  through  the  forests 
of  Caledonia.  He  took  with  him  his  sons  Caracalla  and  Geta, 


PIRATE  XXI.     EXAMPLES  OF  SAM  IAN  WARE  AND  ROMAN  CUT  GLASS 


64 


THE    ROMAN    OCCUPATION 

that  they  might  regain  health  of  body  and  mind  in  the  sterner 
and  more  rigorous  exercises  of  a  military  campaign.  Caracalla 
showed  his  appreciation  of  this  banishment  from  his  pleasures 
by  attempting  to  murder  his  father,  an  attempt  which,  being 
discovered,  induced  Severus  to  offer  a  sword  to  his  son  with 
the  words,  "If  you  desire  to  slay  me,  here  is  the  sword."  Severus 
eventually  died  at  York,  a  city  which  also  saw  the  dissolution 
of  that  brave  spirit  Constantius  Chlorus.  In  connexion  with 
the  campaign  of  Severus  it  is  desirable  to  mention  the  name 
of  Papinian,  '  the  prince  of  lawyers/  who  accompanied  his 
royal  master  to  Britain.  It  will  probably  be  known  to  many 
readers  that  the  Valentinian  Law  of  Citations,  which  named 
five  great  lawyers,  Papinian,  Ulpian,  Gaius,  Paulus,  and 
Modestinus,  as  those  whose  opinions  were  to  be  accepted  as 
correct,  provided  that  in  case  of  dispute  the  voice  of  Papinian 
was  to  be  supreme.  This  man,  then,  Rome's  greatest  lawyer, 
spent  a  considerable  time  in  Britain — for  the  most  part  at 
York.  It  was  from  the  death-bed  of  Constantius  Chlorus 
that  his  favourite  son,  the  child  of  the  saintly  Helena,  the 
future  emperor  and  founder  of  the  Eastern  capital,  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  hurried  from  Britain  to  play  his  part  in 
the  great  game  of  empire-grabbing.  It  was  from  Britain 
that  the  '  honest  usurper '  Maximus  led  his  legions  against 
Gratian ;  a  campaign  which  resulted  in  the  murder  of  Gratian, 
and  finally,  after  five  years  of  fighting  and  a  few  months  of 
imperial  power,  in  the  death  of  Maximus  himself. 

The  end  of  the  occupation  began  with  the  crisis  caused  by 
Alaric's  attempted  descent  upon  Rome  (c.  A.D.  400).  Stilicho, 
the  brave  Vandal,  guardian  of  Honorius,  preserved  the  Empire 
for  the  time  being,  but  Rome  was  weakened  and  its  soldiers 
in  the  outlying  provinces  or  vicarages  were  recalled.  Britain 
thus  lost  the  Twentieth  lyegion.  The  other  two,  doubtless 
much  reduced  in  strength,  remained.  They  too,  however,  pass 
from  the  scene  of  this  history  when  a  certain  Constantine, 
once  a  private  soldier,  now  a  candidate  for  the  imperial  purple, 
led  them  to  Gaul. 

With  the  departure  of  the  legions  the  most  pleasant  part  of 

E  65 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  early  history  of  Wales  is  complete.  We  now  enter  upon 
centuries  of  war.  It  is  one  long  story  of  fighting  which  never 
seems  to  end.  War  with  the  Angles,  Saxons,  Jutes,  Picts, 
Scots,  war  with  themselves,  war  with  the  Normans,  it 
is  a  sorry  story  which  justifies  the  piteous  lamentations  of 
Gildas. 


66 


PLATE  XXII.    ROMAN  JUG  OF  PALE  OLIVE-GREEN  GLASS,' 


66 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  ANGLO-SAXON  INVASION 

WE    have    now    reached    the    year    407.     We  have 
remarked  how,  at  that  time,  the  inhabitants  of 
this    island    were    mainly    Brythons,    Romanized 
Brythons  who  had  been  for  well-nigh  four  centuries  in  close 
contact  with  the  civilizing  influences  of  the  Empire.     Towns 
had    been    founded,    industries    encouraged,    literature    and 
learning  advanced.     The  Christian  religion  had  been  intro- 
duced, together  with  other  more  Eastern  philosophies.     Britain 
had,  in  fact,  become  a  part,  and  perhaps  not  the  rudest  part, 
of  the  polite  Roman  world. 

We  have  now  to  speak  of  a  barbarian  invasion  which  not 
only  stopped  but  set  back  the  hands  of  the  clock  of  progress  ; 
which  drove  the  Brythons  from  the  more  fertile  shires  of 
England  into  the  mountains  of  Cumberland  and  Wales,  and 
into  the  peninsula  of  Cornwall ;  which  established  in  England 
itself  new  stock,  part  of  a  different  race,  introducing  fresh 
customs  and  characteristics,  submerging,  if  not  extermi- 
nating, in  many  parts  of  the  country  the  earlier  British 
people,  making  it  necessary  to  give  a  new  name  to  the 
land  they  had  conquered.  Even  as  Pictish  Albion  became 
the  Brythanic  Islands  with  the  coming  of  the  Brython,  so 
Britain  became  Angle-land  with  the  conquests  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons. 

From  the  period  when  these  conquests  were  complete  we 
shall  find  the  geographical  extent  of  this  history  narrowed 
down  to  what  is  now  Wales  (with  certain  trifling  differ- 
ences). Within  those  borders  the  Welsh  nation  has  since 
been  confined. 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  SAXON  INVASION 

Even  in  the  time  of  the  Roman  occupation  a  significant 
moving  of  the  quarters  of  the  Second  I/egion  from  Caerleon- 
upon-Usk  to  Rutupiae,  or  Richborough,  near  to  the  Isle  of 
Thanet,  in  the  fourth  century  showed  that  these  northern 
pirates  and  sea-rovers  were  beginning  their  depredations. 
We  read  in  the  Notitia  Imperil  (published  c.  400)  of  "  the 
Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore  in  Britain,"  and  it  is  known  that 
fortifications  were  necessary  even  at  that  time  at  Brano- 
dunum  (Brancaster,  in  Norfolk),  Gariannonum  (Caistor,  near 
Yarmouth) ,  Othona  (in  Essex) ,  Regulbium  (Reculver,  in  Kent) , 
Rutupiae,  Dubrae  (Dover),  lyemannae  (Lymne),  Anderida, 
and  Portus  Adurni.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  we  must 
date  the  commencement  of  the  Saxon  invasion  from  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  though  of  course  the  new- 
comers obtained  no  sure  footing  in  the  island  until  much 
later.  Prosper  Tiro,  the  contemporary  of  St.  Augustine,  tells 
us  that  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Arcadius  and  Honorius  (A.D.  409) 
"  the  strength  of  the  Romans  was  utterly  wasted  by  sickness, 
and  the  provinces  of  Britain  were  laid  waste  by  the  incursion 
of  the  Saxons."  Speaking  of  the  year  441,  he  uses  words 
which  suggest  that  the  Saxons  were  beginning  to  establish 
themselves  permanently  in  England.  This  date  is  eight  years 
earlier  than  that  mentioned  by  Bede. 

MAXIMUS,  OR  MAXEN  WLEDIG 

There  was  another  and  an  earlier  event  which  must  be 
borne  in  mind  when  considering  the  overthrow  of  the  Brythons. 
Toward  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  a  Roman  court  official 
of  humble  origin  named  Maximus  was  quartered  in  Britain. 
This  man,  a  Spaniard  by  birth,  was  destined  to  win  for  a 
short  time  an  empire,  to  deplete  a  country  of  its  youth,  and 
to  become  the  hero  of  a  Welsh  romance.  Taking  advantage 
while  in  Britain  of  the  discontent  which  the  misrule  of  Gratian 
had  brought  about,  this  adventurer  caused  himself  to  be 
elected  emperor,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  which 
68 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

comprised  a  large  part  of  the  bravest  and  most  adventurous 
youth  of  Britain,  crossed  over  to  the  Continent,  met,  defeated, 
and  slew  Gratian,  obtained  control  of  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain, 
which  he  ruled  justly,  and  at  last  fell,  after  having  worn  the 
imperial  purple  for  a  few  months.  This  was  the  Maxen  of 
Welsh  romance.  That  he  left  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds 
of  men  in  Britain  is  unquestionable.  He  was  looked  upon 
by  them  as  a  leader  worthy  to  be  followed,  as  a  great  fighter 
and  a  national  hero.  For  our  present  purpose,  however,  we 
must  insist  only  upon  the  salient  fact  that  he  led  from  Britain 
almost  all  the  best  fighting  men.  This  cannot  but  have  had 
a  serious  effect  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  country  when  it  had 
to  grapple  with  barbarian  invaders.  It  is,  indeed,  significant 
that  it  was  shortly  after  this  adventurous  career  of  Maximus 
that  the  Saxons  begin  to  appear  with  ever-increasing  frequency. 
Britain,  now  weakened  by  the  loss  of  its  youth  on  many  a 
Gaulish  battlefield,  was  soon  to  lose  the  remnants  of  the 
legionaries.  Thus  denuded  of  its  fighting  men,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  the  Saxons  commenced  to  come  ever  more  frequently 
to  the  attack. 

VORTIGERN 

It  was  not,  however,  until  toward  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century  that  the  invaders  actually  obtained  a  permanent 
footing  in  this  island,  and  then,  according  to  the  old  historians, 
it  was  rather  the  folly  of  a  British  king  than  defeat  in  war 
that  was  responsible  for  the  intrusion.  The  position  of  the 
island  defenders  was,  however,  extremely  difficult,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Vortigern,  who  is  generally  held  responsible 
for  the  commencement  of  the  Saxon  settlement,  could  avoid 
taking  the  fatal  step  for  which  in  the  following  centuries  he 
was  so  bitterly  blamed.1 

1  Roger  of  Wendover  tells  the  story  as  follows.  Speaking  of  Hengist  and 
Horsa,  who  had,  according  to  Roger,  come  to  help  Vortigern  against  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  he  says :  "  When  at  last  they  stood  before  the  king,  he 
asked  them  respecting  the  faith  and  religion  of  their  ancestors,  on  which 
Hengist  replied,  '  We  worship  the  gods  of  our  fathers — Saturn,  Jupiter,  and 
the  other  deities  who  govern  the  world,  and  especially  Mercury,  whom  in 
our  tongue  we  call  Woden,  and  to  whom  our  fathers  dedicated  the  fourth 

69 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

The  position  of  affairs  at  this  time  may  perhaps  be  stated 
as  follows.  The  northern  wall  which  under  Roman  rule  had 
kept  the  Picts  or  Caledonians  of  Scotland  at  bay  for  centuries 
was  now  practically  undefended  or  insufficiently  defended. 
The  result  was  that  the  barbarians  of  the  north  succeeded  in 
accomplishing  what  they  had  for  years  been  attempting  to 
do — break  the  southern  bonds  which  kept  them  from  the 
fertile  land  of  north  central  Britain.  Vortigern,  who  was  then, 
perhaps,  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  British  leaders,  found  it 
impossible  to  withstand  the  northern  barbarians  for  the 
reasons  which  we  have  shortly  stated  above,  and  consequently 
called  in  the  aid  of  the  Saxons,  promising  a  grant  of  land 
in  southern  Britain  as  payment  for  the  alliance.  The  Saxons 
came,  the  barbarians  were,  perhaps,  checked,  but  one  enemy 
had  been  exchanged  for  another,  and  the  second  state  of 
Britain  was  worse  than  the  first ! 

Who  this  Vortigern  was,  if,  indeed,  he  is  not  entirely 

legendary,  we  do  not  know  with  any  accuracy.     If  we  identify 

him  with  King  Gwrtheym  and  follow  Sir  John  Rhys  we  must 

regard  him  as  the  Goidelic  king  of  the  Brythons  of  that  part 

of  Britain  called  in  later  times  Powys.     It  will  perhaps  be 

remembered  that  in  the  third  century  a  Goidelic  tribe  called 

the  Desi  had  come  from  Ireland  to  South  Wales  and  had 

established  itself  in  that  country.     Sir  John  would  give  to 

the  words  '  Gwrtheyrn  Gwrtheneu/  in  the  Brut,  which  Williams 

ab  Ithel   translated   as  '  Vortigern  of   Repulsive   Lips,'  the 

meaning  that  Vortigern  spoke  a  language  which  was  unknown 

to  his  subjects — that,  in  fact,  he  was  a  Goidel  ruling  Brythons. 

From  this,  in  conjunction  with  other  facts,  he  suggests  that 

Vortigern  the  Goidel  was  either  the  founder  or  an  important 

member  of  the  Goidelic  dynasty  of  Powys,  and  possibly  an 

day  of  the  week,  which  to  this  day  is  called  "  Wodensday."  Next  to  him 
we  worship  the  most  powerful  goddess  Frea,  to  whom  they  dedicated  the 
sixth  day,  which,  after  her,  we  call  "  Friday."  '  '  I  grieve  much,'  said  Vorti- 
gern, '  for  your  belief  or  rather  for  your  unbelief  ;  but  I  am  exceedingly 
rejoiced  at  your  coming,  which,  whether  brought  about  by  God  or  otherwise,  is 
most  opportune  for  my  urgent  necessities.'  "  We  have  lost  the  naiveti  of 
those  old  chroniclers  ! 

70 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

ancestor  of  that  Eliseg  whose  name  is  preserved  to  us  on  a 
pillar  still  standing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Valle  Crucis  Abbey, 
near  Llangollen.  However  this  may  be,  we  may  perhaps 
regard  Vortigern  as  a  British  king  of  importance.  He  is 
mentioned  by  name  by  Bede  and  is  referred  to  by  Gildas,  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  spoken  of  in  the  Brut  as  well  as  in  the  later 
chronicles.  According  to  Bede  and  the  Chronicle,  the  date 
when  the  Saxons  were  called  in  to  his  aid  was  449,  and  their 
reward  consisted  in  the  gift  of  lands  in  Kent.  Thus  the  new- 
comers obtained  a  footing,  and  having  done  so  they  seem  to 
have  lost  little  time  in  acquainting  their  kinsfolk  oversea 
of  the  wealth  of  the  new  country  and  the  '  nothingness  '  of  its 
inhabitants. 

INVADERS  FROM  IRELAND 

It  is  probable  that  it  was  not  merely  against  the  Picts  and 
the  Angles  and  Saxons  that  the  Britons  had  to  contend. 
Apart  from  the  early  migration  of  the  Desi  tribe,  it  is  fairly 
certain  that  throughout  the  fourth  century  the  Scots  from 
Ireland  had  been  making  frequent  depredations  on  the  western 
shore  of  Britain.  If  Gildas  is  to  be  believed,  they  came  over 
the  Irish  Sea  in  small  boats  called  coracles,  each  holding  but 
a  few  men.  But  though  the  men  in  each  boat  were  few  the 
boats  themselves  were  many.  That  they  caused  great  loss  to 
the  western  part  of  the  island  is  probable,  that  they  settled  in 
ever-increasing  numbers  is  possible.  It  was  the  age  when  the 
Goidels  avenged  the  losses  which  the  Britons  had  inflicted  upon 
them  in  the  earlier  times  of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 

CAUSES  OF  BRITAIN'S  WEAKNESS 

Bearing  in  mind  that  the  Britons  were  thus  faced  on  the 
one  hand  with  heavy  losses  due  to  the  withdrawal  of  their 
best  blood  to  fight  the  battles  of  Maximus — and  that  this  best 
was  very  good  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Maximus  won  for 
himself,  for  a  few  short  months  at  any  rate,  the  rulership  of 
the  Western  world — and  to  the  decline  of  Roman  power,  with 
the  consequent  withdrawal  of  the  legions,  and  on  the  other 

71 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

hand  with  three  barbarous  and  warlike  nations,  each  desiring 
to  filch  away  part  of  the  wealth  which  Roman  rule  had  created, 
we  believe  that  the  reader  will  find  that  the  defenders  of 
Britain  were  neither  the  nithing  men  that  the  Angles  thought 
them  to  be  nor  the  degenerate  cowards  that  the  Briton  Gildas 
would  have  us  regard  them  as  being. 

THE  SAXON  ATTACK 

With  regard  to  the  struggle  which  followed  we  propose  to 
say  but  little,  the  reason  being  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest 
belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  England  than  to  that  of  Wales. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  Welsh  were  much  more  con- 
cerned with  the  northern  invasions  than  with  those  of  the 
south.  Whether  the  southern  Britons  ever  retreated  to 
Wales  in  sufficient  numbers  to  carry  with  them  a  memory  of 
their  former  history  is  extremely  doubtful.  It  would  seem 
that  they  were,  to  a  large  extent,  overwhelmed  by  their 
conquerors.  In  the  north,  however,  the  story  is  different. 
Right  up  to  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Winwaed  the  chieftains 
of  Wales  and  of  Strathclyde  were,  intermittently  at  any  rate, 
working  together  to  defeat  and  overcome  the  invader. 

As  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquests  in  the  south,  these  we 
propose  to  pass  over  very  quickly.  Right  from  the  beginning 
battles  were  very  frequent.  In  455  Hengist  and  Horsa,  the 
leaders  of  the  new-comers,  fought  against  Vortigern ;  the  year 
following  Hengist  and  Aesc  (the  successor  of  Horsa,  who  was 
slain  in  the  earlier  battle)  slew  4000  Britons  ;  in  465  they  are 
again  found  fighting  with  the  Britons  (Welshmen l)  and 
inflicting  heavy  loss,  for  we  read  that  many  Welsh  nobles  fell 
in  this  engagement.  By  473  the  conquest  of  Kent  was  well- 
nigh  complete,  but  it  had  not  been  gained  without  nearly 
twenty  years  of  fiercely  contested  battles.  The  conquest  of 
Sussex  now  began.  In  477  and  485  two  more  battles  were 
fought  against  the  Welsh,  with  much  loss  of  life,  and  in  491 
occurred  the  massacre  of  Anderida — the  Roman  camp  already 

1  The  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  always  uses  the  term  '  Welshman '  (or 
Wealas) — i.e.  foreigners  or  enemies — when  referring  to  the  Britons. 

72 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

referred  to — where  all  the  inhabitants  were  put  to  the  sword. 
By  495,  when  another  important  engagement  took  place,  the 
invaders  had  pushed  still  farther  along  the  southern  shore, 
and  had  reached,  apparently,  almost  as  far  as  Southampton. 
Wessex  was  now  the  object  of  their  attack.  Battles  were 
constantly  being  fought,  and  by  530  the  Isle  of  Wight  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  Saxons.  After  forty  years  of  continuous 
warfare  (apart  from  the  fighting  in  the  south-east)  the  new- 
comers could  claim  Hampshire  and  the  Isle  of  Wight  as 
conquered  territory. 

Right  through  the  sixth  century  the  struggle  continues,  the 
earlier  inhabitants  being  driven  ever  farther  west  or  slain  or 
reduced  to  slavery.  Towns  were  swept  away,  and  the  cities 
which  had  been  raised  in  Roman  times  overthrown,  sacked, 
pillaged,  and  destroyed.  A  stubborn  and  continued  resistance 
was  undoubtedly  made  by  the  Britons.  For  at  least  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  the  struggle  went  on.  Nor  were  the  battles 
few  and  far  between  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  have  been 
one  long-continued  battle.  It  was  a  war  of  dispossession,  a 
war  between  a  warlike  and  a  numerous  people  and  a  brave  but 
peaceful  nation  fighting  for  its  life  and  its  nationality. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  SAXON  INVASION 

The  modern  mind  has  some  difficulty  in  imagining  what 
those  dreadful  years  must  have  been  like  to  the  Britons.  They 
had  lived  in  almost  perfect  peace  (in  the  south)  for  centuries 
before  the  departure  of  the  Romans.  Even  if  we  had  to  rely 
solely  upon  the  evidence  of  Gildas,  we  should  know  that  they 
were  accustomed  to  live  in  cities  with  solid  walls,  well-planned 
citadels,  with  well-built  houses.  They  were  accustomed  to 
all  the  commercial  methods  of  Rome.  Their  goods  were 
housed  in  warehouses  and  shops.  Churches  were  built. 
Justice  was  administered  in  imposing  basilicas  and  town-halls. 
Orchards  were  planted  and  gardens  flourished.1  The  state  of 
Roman  Britain  was  both  peaceful  and  pleasant.  It  was  upon 

1  Compare  Giraldus  Cambrensis'  account  of  Caerwent  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  given  as  a  footnote  to  p.  59. 

73 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

this  fair  and  wealthy  country  that  the  storm  of  barbarian 
invasion  broke.  For  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  men  of 
Britain  defended  their  homes  and  attempted  to  beat  back  the 
tide  of  conquest.  Saxon,  Angle,  Jute,  Pict,  and  Scot  in  turn, 
or  all  at  once,  swept  down  upon  them.  The  cities  were 
destroyed,  the  gardens  laid  waste,  the  accumulated  wealth  of 
Roman  times  seized.  The  defenders  who  had  at  first  fought 
to  preserve  their  property  now  fought  to  preserve  their  lives. 
Even  this  they  barely  succeeded  in  doing.  Rome  was  appealed 
to,  but  Rome  could  not  hear.  Generation  succeeded  genera- 
tion and  still  the  hideous  devastation  continued.  Toward 
the  end  Britons  must  have  been  fighting  against  Saxons  who 
hardly  knew  the  meaning  and  the  purpose  of  the  buildings, 
of  the  pottery,  of  the  wall-surrounded  orchards,  now  fruitless 
and  overgrown  with  weeds,  which  in  the  times  of  their  great- 
grandfathers had  been  possessed  by  men  of  their  own  rank 
and  of  their  own  nation.  Roman  culture  had  been  neutralized 
by  Saxon  barbarity.1 

At  the  end  of  the  struggle,  when  the  Britons  had  been  beaten 
back  to  the  fastnesses  of  Wales,  they  carried  with  them,  as  we 
shall  see,  but  a  faint  memory  of  the  arts,  crafts,  and  learn- 
ing of  Roman  times.  They  were  once  more  a  pastoral 
people,  living  in  houses  rudely  constructed,  made  to  be  readily 
movable,  planned  so  that  the  inhabitants  could  readily  leave 
them  without  great  loss.  Gardens  and  orchards  were  almost 
unknown,  corn  was  relied  upon  less  than  milk  and  meat. 
The  people  themselves  were  hardy,  used  to  the  rigours  of  an 
open-air  life,  asking  but  little  of  life  save  liberty.2  All  this 
must  be  borne  in  mind  if  the  subsequent  history  of  Wales  is 
to  be  understood.  As  we  shall  see,  in  the  years  to  come  it  was 
just  this  simplicity  of  life,  this  hardihood,  this  mobility,  which 
made  the  conquest  of  Wales  by  the  Normans  almost  impossible. 

Nothing  strikes  the  student  of  the  early  history  of  Britain 

1  It  was  a  similar  blight,  falling  upon  southern  Europe,  which  broke  down 
Roman  and  Byzantine  culture,  heralded  the  Dark  Ages,  and  plunged  Europe 
into  ignorance  for  at  least  six  hundred  years. 

1  Giraldus,  writing  in  the  thirteenth  century,  describes  the  Welshman  of 
his  day  in  very  similar  terms.  The  Renaissance  had  not  yet  arrived. 

74 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

so  forcibly  as  the  difference  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion 
and  the  Norman  Conquest.  Hengist,  Aelle,  Cissa,  Cerdic, 
Cynric,  Ceawlin,  Cutha,  Ceolwulf,  and  the  rest  rise  up  to  lead 
the  Saxon  invaders.  Ten  years  pass,  a  century  passes,  and  a 
few  acres  are  won,  a  county  is  lost,  a  province  is  wrested  from 
the  Britons.  On  the  other  hand,  William  landed  in  1066, 
fought  one  important  battle,  and  was  crowned  king,  and 
although  some  attempts  at  revolt  and  resistance  were  made 
subsequently,  they  were  but  half-hearted,  and  William,  after 
but  a  short  reign,  was  enabled  to  transfer  a  well-established 
crown  to  his  son.  The  reason  probably  is  that  the  inva- 
sion was  indeed  an  invasion,  the  conquest  but  a  conquest. 
The  Saxons  came  as  a  people  to  dispossess  and  destroy  a 
people  ;  William  came  leading  his  Normans  to  gain  a  throne 
and  govern  a  people.  There  was  no  question  of  a  general 
dispossession. 

THE  HALLELUJAH  VICTORY 

Though  it  would  be  undesirable  in  a  short  history  of  Wales 
to  give  an  account  in  detail  of  the  Saxon  invasion,  we  have 
thought  it  useful  to  point  out  its  general  effect.  It  is  also 
necessary  to  advert  to  a  few  battles  which  more  nearly  touch 
our  subject. 

The  first  great  victory  which  the  Britons  won  over  the 
Picts  and  Saxons,  or  Scots,  took  place  almost  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  struggle,  in  about  429.  Germanus,  who  had  been 
sent  by  Pope  Celestine  to  attempt  to  purge  the  Britons  of  the 
Pelagian  heresy,  had,  after  working  several  miracles,  at  last 
succeeded  in  winning  the  confidence  of  the  nation  he  had  been 
sent  to  teach  or  improve.  It  was  he  who  was  the  hero  of  this 
encounter,  known  to  history  as  the  Hallelujah  Battle,  and  the 
victory  was  due  less  to  the  bravery  of  the  Britons — which, 
indeed,  was  not  tested — than  to  his  strategy.  Assembling 
his  none  too  numerous  host  in  a  valley  surrounded  by  moun- 
tains,1 he  caused  them  on  a  given  signal  to  shout  with  one 

1  The  site  of  this  battle  was  probably  near  Mold,  in  Flintshire,  probably  at 
Rhual,  in  the  place  now  occupied  by  the  park  of  Lieut. -Colonel  B.  E.  Philips. 

75 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

voice  the  word  '  Hallelujah ! '  This  shout,  echoing  from  the 
surrounding  hills,  was  magnified  into  such  a  roar  of  triumph 
that  the  opposing  army,  feeling  themselves  overwhelmed  by 
numbers,  fled,  leaving  their  arms  behind  them  in  their  fear. 
The  victory  was  at  once  complete  and  bloodless. 

According  to  the  two  historians  Gildas  and  Nennius,  who 
were  both  Britons,1  early  in  the  sixth  century  an  important 
victory  was  won  by  their  countrymen  at  the  battle  of  Mount 
Badon.  The  stories  are  conflicting  and  confused,  but  it  would 
seem  that  the  battle  did  actually  occur,  and  not  improbably 
it  accounts  for  the  comparative  peacefulness  of  Cynric's  reign. 
It  is  not  known  who  was  the  leader  of  the  British.  Gildas 
talks  of  Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  the  last  Roman  descended  from 
the  imperial  house  left  in  Britain  ;  Nennius  gives  us  as  leader 
that  quasi-historical  hero  Arthur.  The  Annales  Cambriae  also 
assigns  the  victory  to  Arthur,  and  gives  the  date  of  the  battle 
as  516.  It  is  not  known  where  the  battle  was  fought.  Some 
think  it  was  on  the  Welsh  border,  possibly  in  South  Wales  ; 
some  believe  it  took  place  in  Scotland.  It  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  noticed  by  historians  generally  that  there  were 
two  battles  fought  on  Mount  Badon,  according  to  the  Annales 
Cambriae,  the  second  one  being  assigned  to  the  year  665,  on 
which  occasion  a  certain  Morcant  was  slain. 

These  two  victories  would  appear  to  be  the  only  considerable 
ones  won  by  the  Britons  of  which  we  have  any  account — 
unless  we  are  to  regard  the  battle  of  Fethan-lea,  fought  in  584 
by  Ceawlin  and  Cutha  against  the  Britons,  as  a  Saxon  reverse. 
The  statement  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  is  ambiguous.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  invaders  won  two  decisive  battles  which 
we  must  mention,  since  they  resulted  in  the  Britons  of  Wales 
being  cut  off  from  their  countrymen  of  Cornwall  on  the  one 
side  and  of  Strathclyde  on  the  other.  The  first  of  these 
victories  was  that  of  Deorham  in  577,  the  other  was  the 
victory  of  Chester  in  c.  613.  The  events  leading  up  to  these 
battles  and  the  battles  themselves  we  will  now  consider  shortly. 

1  Nennius  is  an  unknown  quantity.  Some  think  there  never  was  such  a 
person,  and  refer  to  his  work  of  the  Historia  BriUonum  simply. 

76 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

DEORHAM 

In  571  an  important  victory  had  been  won  by  the  Saxons 
at  Bedford,  which  resulted  in  the  occupation  of  several  towns 
in  Oxfordshire  and  Bucks,  and  doubtless  established  a  base 
from  which  the  invading  army  could  push  on  up  the  Severn  to 
the  Dee.  By  577  the  Saxons  appear  to  have  got  as  far  as 
Gloucestershire,  a  progress  so  slow  that  it  would  seem  to  tell 
of  some  long-protracted  siege  or  of  continual  petty  warfare. 
However  this  may  be,  the  Saxons  appeared  in  that  year  at 
Deorham,  a  place  some  ten  miles  east  of  Bristol.  Ceawlin, 
with  Cuthwine  his  brother,  led  the  Saxons ;  Coinmail,  Condidan, 
and  Farnmail x  headed  the  Brythons.  The  result  was  clearly 
an  overwhelming  victory  for  the  Saxon  arms.  All  the  British 
leaders  were  slain.  The  cities  of  Gloucester,  Cirencester,  and 
Bath  (Bathan-Ceaster)  fell  to  the  conquerors.  As  we  have 
said,  the  Cymry  of  Cornwall  and  Somerset  were  cut  off  from 
their  more  northern  kinsmen,  and  finally  the  way  was  open 
for  the  Saxons'  advance  up  the  valley  of  the  Severn.  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  this  advance  was  one  continuous  massacre 
of  a  leaderless  and  beaten  people  by  a  savage  invader.  We 
read  that  many  towns  and  vast  quantities  of  booty  were 
taken  by  Ceawlin,  until  at  last,  in  584,  when  he  fought  the 
battle  of  Fethan-lea  (possibly  somewhere  in  Cheshire),  where 
his  son  was  slain,  he  "  departed  in  anger  to  his  own  land."  It 
is  to  this  campaign  that  we  must  trace  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  city  of  Viroconium.2 

This  important  town,  which  now  lies  a  ruin,  mostly  buried 
under  fields  which  have  been  ploughed  for  centuries,  can  still 
be  traced  from  some  of  the  more  important  remains  which 
appear  above  the  surface  of  the  soil.  Parts  of  the  site  have 

1  Descended  from  Pascent,  son  of  Vortigern  or  Gwrtheyrn,  according  to 
Rhys  in  Y  Cymmrodor  (vol.  xxi,  p.  57). 

*  Sir  John  Rhys  has  suggested  that  the  destruction  of  Viroconium  (called 
in  later  times  Uriconium)  may  have  been  the  work  of  the  Goidelic  invaders 
of  Wales  who  came  from  Ireland  in  the  time  of,  or  after,  the  migration  of 
the  De"si  tribe.  For  the  suggestion  see  his  article  entitled  All  Around  the 
Wrekin,  in  Y  Cymmrodor,  vol.  xxi.  We  prefer  to  regard  it  as  the  work  of 
the  Saxons. 

77 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

been  opened  up  by  the  spade  of  the  excavator.  Lying  some 
eight  miles  from  Shrewsbury  and  some  seven  miles  from 
Wellington,  it  well  repays  a  visit,  being  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting and  tragic  ruins  of  the  kind  in  this  country.  There 
still  remains  visible  part  of  the  wall  of  the  basilica  or  judgment- 
hall,  built  in  the  Roman  manner,  and  doubtless  used  by  the 
Romans  as  the  centre  of  administration  and  justice.  Near 
by  are  the  ruins  of  the  baths,  a  luxury  which  the  Romans  at 
all  times  and  in  all  places  seem  to  have  found  necessary.  This 
near  juxtaposition  of  the  baths  to  the  court  reminds  one 
forcibly  of  the  rule  of  Roman  law  whereby  it  was  provided 
that  slaves  could  be  manumitted  by  the  master  mentioning 
the  matter  to  the  praetor  (judge)  even  on  the  way  to  the  baths. 
There  one  can  see  Roman  pottery,  the  outline  of  Roman 
shops,  including  a  smithy,  and  the  general  plan  of  a  Roman 
street.  Ploughmen  are  constantly  turning  up  parts  of  buried 
skeletons  in  the  vicinity.  This,  then,  was  the  Roman  town, 
and  this  is  what  Ceawlin  left  of  it.  Perhaps  the  bones  of  the 
family  of  I4ywarch  He"n,  the  great  Cymric  poet  and  the 
founder  of  a  form  of  poetry,  lie  buried  there  even  yet.  That 
his  children  perished  in  the  general  massacre  is  certain. 

To  return.  The  battle  of  Fethan-lea  seems  to  have  marked 
the  boundary  of  the  Saxon  advance  at  that  time.  Ceawlin 
was  beaten  back  and  for  a  while  there  was  peace.  But  soon 
the  Angles  well-nigh  completed  what  the  Saxons  commenced — 
the  isolation  of  Wales  from  the  rest  of  the  Cymry.  Before 
passing  on  to  the  short  description  of  the  battle  by  which  this 
was  accomplished,  we  would  remind  the  reader  that  in  594 
Augustine  had  set  out  on  his  great  mission  to  endeavour  to 
bring  the  barbarian  Saxon  within  the  Church.  Centuries 
before  this,  of  course,  the  Brythons  had  known  Christianity, 
had  even  been  tainted  or  acquainted  with  the  Pelagian 
philosophy,  or  heresy  as  some  say.  They  had  strong  beliefs, 
and  Augustine  does  not  seem  to  have  approached  the  leaders 
of  the  ancient  British  Church  in  a  particularly  tactful  manner. 
At  this  time  the  chief  seat  of  learning  in  Britain  was  Bangor, 
in  the  county  of  Flint  (now  a  little  hamlet  on  the  side  of  the 
78 


THE    ANGLO-SAXON    INVASION 

Dee).  From  the  monastery  there  established  (it  contained 
over  two  thousand  inmates)  the  learned  ecclesiastics  came  to 
speak  with  Augustine.  It  is  perhaps  worth  bearing  in  mind, 
especially  by  those  who  are  tempted  to  regard  the  Cymry  of 
those  days  as  a  wild  and  barbarous  people,  that  the  following 
disputation  was  concerned  with  the  precise  day  on  which 
Easter  should  be  held,  an  argument  based  mainly  on  astronomy 
— a  science  in  which  the  Welsh  seem  to  have  been  proficient. 
The  result  was  an  open  quarrel  between  the  new  and  the  old 
sect — a  quarrel  which  wrought  Augustine  to  prophesy  the 
ruin  and  overthrow  of  the  Britons  by  their  enemies  the  Angles 
and  Saxons,  whom  St.  Augustine  was  endeavouring  to  win 
over  to  his  creed  and  religion.  We  echo  and  repeat  the  words 
of  the  late  Dr.  Hodgkin — echo  because  we  cannot  improve, 
repeat  because  we  respect :  "It  was  a  golden  opportunity 
that  was  offered  for  the  reconciliation  of  two  great  hostile 
races  at  the  feet  of  one  Saviour,  and  that  opportunity  lost 
never  returned.  The  wound  which  the  Saxon  invasions  had 
caused,  still  comparatively  fresh,  might  possibly  have  been 
then  healed  by  first  intention.  Unhealed  then,  it  went 
festering  on  for  centuries  ;  and  more  than  once  or  twice  since 
the  days  of  Augustine,  Christianity,  which  ought  to  be  the 
great  reconciler  of  men,  has  proved  itself  the  great  divider 
between  Celt  and  Saxon." 

THE  BATTLE  OF  CHESTER 

Augustine's  prophecy  was  only  too  fatally  fulfilled.  Some 
time  about  613  Aethelfrith  the  Angle,  king  of  Bernicia,  led 
his  army  from  York  to  Chester  (or  Caerlegion,  as  the  Welsh 
chroniclers  call  it).  The  Britons  had  as  vanguard  a  great 
number  of  monks  from  the  monastery  of  Bangor,  who  had 
come  to  aid  the  Britons  and  their  king  Brochmail x  with  their 
prayers.  Aethelfrith  refused  to  regard  them  or  their  persons 
as  sacred,  and  on  learning  that  they  rendered  spiritual,  or 
moral,  if  not  active,  support  to  his  enemy,  ordered  his  soldiers 

1  See  Y  Cymmrodor,  vol.xxi,  p.  104  (table).  There  were  many  Brochmails. 
This  king  was  probably  of  the  house  of  Powys. 

79 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

to  attack  them.  The  result  was  that  more  than  a  thousand 
monks  were  slain.  Their  prayers  seem  to  have  been  of  little 
aid  either  to  them  or  to  their  king,  for  Brochmail,  appalled  at 
this  disaster,  hardly  contested  the  fight,  but  fled  with  his  men, 
utterly  broken  and  demoralized.  As  a  result  of  this  complete 
victory  Chester  fell.  It  was  sacked  by  the  victor  and  remained 
a  waste  for  centuries.  As  a  more  far-reaching  result  Strath- 
clyde  was  cut  off  from  the  north  of  Wales ;  the  Cymry  of 
Cumberland  were  severed,  almost  for  ever,  from  their  one-time 
compatriots  of  Gwynedd.  By  that  victory,  in  conjunction 
with  the  earlier  one  at  Deorham,  the  Britons  were  driven  into 
the  part  of  Britain  which  is  now  Wales.  The  border  counties, 
however,  were  still  disputed  territory.  It  was  reserved  for 
Wulfhere,  Offa,  and  the  Norman  barons  to  draw  the  line  which 
to-day  severs  England  from  the  more  ancient  kingdom. 

With  these  few  disjointed  facts  we  must  be  content  in  our 
treatment  of  the  Saxon  invasion,  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  invasion  rather  than  of  conquest.  In  the  chapter 
following  we  shall  have  something  to  say  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Welsh  in  those  troublous  times,  but  our  knowledge  of  what 
was  happening  in  Wales,  or  even  in  Strathclyde,  during  all 
this  period  is  very  indefinite  ;  and  as  to  the  miseries  which 
befell  the  Britons  in  England,  that  is  a  subject  which  is 
impertinent  and  out  of  place  in  a  history  of  Wales,  except 
in  so  far  as  it  throws  a  light  upon  subsequent  Welsh  history. 


80 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  CYMRY 

S3  far  we  have  been  looking  at  the  history  of  Wales 
rather  through  the  spectacles  of  the  Romans  and  the 
Saxons.  We  have  therefore  on  occasion  used  the 
foreigner's  word — '  Welsh,'  '  Welshman '  meaning  a  stranger, 
an  enemy.  Now  we  will,  with  the  reader's  permission,  treat 
of  this  nation  as  the  Cymry — the  nation  of  compatriots,  of 
brothers. 

We  have  so  far  roughly  pointed  out  how  the  aborigines  were 
conquered  by  the  Goidels  ;  the  Goidels  by  the  Brythons,  who 
forced  them  partly  into  the  fastnesses  of  North  and  South 
Wales,  driving  in  a  wedge  between  the  Goidels  of  North  Wales 
and  South  Wales — a  wedge  represented  in  more  recent  times 
with  substantial  accuracy  by  the  kingdom  of  Powys.  We 
have  seen  how  the  Roman  came,  conquered,  and  civilized ; 
how  the  Saxon  and  Angle  invaded,  massacred,  and  embruted. 
We  have  now  restricted  the  geographical  limits  of  our  story 
to  modern  Wales  and  the  border  counties.  Cornwall  and  the 
country  of  the  West  Welsh  or  the  Southern  Cymry  is  severed 
from  the  Cymry  of  Demetia.  The  Cymry  of  Strathclyde  and 
Cumberland  are  divided  by  the  rising  power  of  Mercia  from 
their  kindred  of  Gwynedd. 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  a  little  and  see  what  has 
been  happening  through  all  the  troublous  times  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  invasion  in  Wales  itself. 

Two  names  stand  out  with  some  distinctness  even  as  early 
as  the  later  years  of  the  Roman  occupation.  These  are 
Vortigern  and  Cunedda.  The  former  was  king  or  chief  of 
the  Britons  of  mid- Wales,  the  latter  was  at  first  a  chief  of 

F  81 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

North  Britain  who  afterward  came  south  with  his  tribe  to 
fight  against  and  finally  overcome  the  Scots  or  Goidels  of 
northern  Wales.  Of  both  these  leaders  we  must  say  some- 
thing. 

CUNEDDA  WLEDIG 

Cunedda  Wledig  (King  Cunedda)  came  down  from  the 
north,  probably  from  guarding  the  great  wall  built  by  Hadrian 
between  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway  Firth,  to  fight  against 
those  Goidels  who  had  not  improbably  come  over  from  Ireland 
to  aid  their  countrymen  of  North  Wales  to  conquer  the 
Brythons  of  Powys-land.  It  would  seem  l  that  the  Brythons 
of  Central  Wales,  finding  themselves  hard  pressed  by  the 
Goidels  with  the  Scottish  allies,2  sent  to  their  Brythonic 
kinsmen  of  Strathclyde  for  aid.  Cunedda  replied  by  leading 
in  person  his  followers,  including  his  sons,  twelve  in  number.3 
This  occurred  late  in  the  fourth  or  early  in  the  fifth  century — 
that  is  to  say,  after  Maximus  and  shortly  before  the  departure 
of  the  Roman  legions  and  the  coming  of  the  Saxons.  Cunedda 
came  to  aid  ;  he  remained  to  conquer.  Of  the  details  of  the 
struggle  we  have  no  knowledge.  In  the  result,  however,  we 
find  him  established  as  king  of  Gwynedd,  and  to  him  we  must 
trace  the  foundation  of  that  royal  or  princely  house  which 
ruled  over  their  territory  from  the  royal  town  of  Deganwy,  or, 
in  later  times,  from  Aberffraw,  in  Mon.  All  Cunedda's  sons 
appear  to  have  settled  in  Gwynedd  except  the  eldest,  who 
died  in  Scotland,  leaving  a  son,  Merion,  who  succeeded  to 
what  would  have  been  his  father's  share  of  the  spoils  of  the 
newly  conquered  territory.  This  Merion  then  appears  to 
have  ruled  over  the  cantref  Merion,  from  whence  is  derived 
the  present  name  of  the  county  of  Merioneth.4  Merion,  after 

1  There  are  several  conflicting  theories  current  as  to  the  exact  relationship 
existing  between  Goidel  and  Brython  in  Wales  during  this  period. 

*  The  Scots  at  this  time,  we  need  hardly  remind  our  readers,  were  Goidels 
who  came  from  Ireland  (from  whence  the  Gaelic  stream  came  first  to  Wales, 
and  later,  or  perhaps   contemporaneously,  to  western  Scotland    and   the 
Isles). 

8  The  Annales  Cambriae  gives  nine,  Nennius  eight  as  the  number. 

•  These  derivations  should  be  regarded  as  doubtful. 

82 


THE    BIRTH    OF   THE    CYMRY 

the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Cunedda,  seems  to  have  been 
regarded  as  the  head  of  his  house,  and  we  find  him  assigning 
to  the  other  sons  of  Cunedda  various  tracts  extending  over 
Cardigan  (Ceredigion,  from  Ceredig,  another  of  the  sons), 
Gwynedd,  and  Mon.  Of  course  all  this  is  extremely 
doubtful,  our  authorities  being  legends  and  legendary  genea- 
logies. But  when  one  has  no  better  historical  guides  it  is 
necessary  to  accept  their  services,  or  for  ever  give  up  the 
attempt  to  find  a  path  through  the  tangled  history  of  early 
societies. 

VORTIGERN 

The  next  king  of  the  Cymry  of  whom  we  know  something 
more  than  the  mere  name  is  Vortigern.  Of  him  we  have 
already  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter.  He  is  probably 
later  than  Cunedda  by  about  half  a  century,  and  ruled  over 
Central  Wales,  and  possibly  over  Herefordshire  as  well.  Unlike 
Cunedda,  he  was,  according  to  Sir  John  Rhys,  a  Goidel,  so 
that  we  have  the  interesting  spectacle  of  a  Goidelic  king  ruling 
over  the  Brythons  of  Powys-land  while  a  British  king  is  ruling 
over  the  Goidels  of  North  Wales.  Vortigern,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  is  regarded  by  the  old  historians  as  responsible 
for  the  invitation  to  the  Angles  to  aid  him  in  repulsing  the 
Picts,  and  under  date  449  we  find  the  interesting  entry  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  to  the  effect  that  "  Wyrtgeorn  invites 
the  Angles  to  Britain.  They  come  over  in  three  keels  and 
land  at  Heopwines-fleet,  and  he  gives  them  land  in  the  south- 
east of  the  country  on  condition  of  their  fighting  the  Picts. 
This  they  do  successfully,  but  they  send  home  for  more  of  their 
countrymen,  telling  them  of  the  worthlessness  of  the  Britons 
and  the  goodness  of  the  land."  l  The  result  of  that  unhappy 
invitation  we  have  already  referred  to.  We  merely  add  here 
that  it  would  seem  that  Vortigern  was  a  leader  of  much  power 
in  Britain,  and  if  he  were  really  a  Goidel  merely  ruling  over  a 
division  of  Wales  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  he  should  be  acting 

1  We  quote  from  the  late  Thomas  Hodgkin's  volume  in  The  Political 
History  of  England,  p.  88. 

83 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

in  this  important  matter  alone  when  the  step  thus  taken  was 
one  which  obviously  affected  the  whole  of  Britain. 

After  the  death  of  Vortigern  our  knowledge  of  the  Welsh 
leaders  practically  ceases  for  more  than  fifty  years.  Such 
names  as  Pascent  and  Eliseg,  it  is  true,  flit  before  us,  but  they 
are  mere  names  preserved  to  us  only  in  genealogies  or  in 
legends  engraved  upon  the  sculptured  stone.  It  is  not, 
indeed,  until  the  year  500  that  we  come  across  the  next  ruler 
of  whom  we  know  anything  of  living  interest. 

DYFNWAL  MOELMUD 

The  king  of  whom  we  now  speak  was  Dyfnwal  Moelmud, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  lived  at  the  commencement  of  the 
sixth  century.  He  was  apparently  a  leader  of  the  Strathclyde 
Britons  and  a  grandson  of  Coel  Odebog.  He  became  in  later 
times  and  in  bardic  legend  the  first  and  greatest  British 
legislator,  and  is  mentioned  as  the  author  of  the  Triads l  in  the 
Triads  themselves.  These  compilations,  which  we  shall  con- 
sider later,  were,  however,  forgeries  of  a  much  later  date,  and 
consequently  we  can  attach  but  little  importance  to  what  they 
say  of  their  supposed  author.  We  can  assign  about  the  same 
amount  of  weight  to  the  statement  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth, 
who  makes  him  the  son  of  Cloten,  king  of  Cornwall.  The 
Venedotian  Code,  however,  may  perhaps  be  relied  upon  when 
it  refers  to  him  as  a  great  measurer  and  settler  of  boundaries. 
We  may  therefore  regard  Dyfnwal  as  a  person  who  did  really 
live,  and  one  who  was  famous  as  a  lawgiver  rather  than  as  a 
soldier,  but  beyond  that  we  can  hardly  go. 

MAELGWN  GWYNEDD 

Following  upon  Dyfnwal  in  point  of  time,  though  probably 
ruling  over  a  country  widely  separated  from  Dyfnwal's 
territory,  was  that  Maelgwn  Gwynedd  of  whom  we  find  such 
a  terrible  picture  painted  in  the  pages  of  Gildas.  He,  with 
Vortigern,  was  made  to  share  responsibility  for  the  loss  of 
Britain  to  the  barbarians,  and,  like  Vortigern,  his  main  sin 

1  The  Triads  referred  to  are  those  printer!  in  The  Ancient  Laws  of  Wales, 
vol.  ii. 


PLATE  XXIII.     EUSEG'S 

Photo  Lettsome  &>  Sons,  Llangollen 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

probably  consisted  in  the  fact  that  he  was  a  powerful  man 
who  attempted  to  resist  without  success. 

Maelgwn  Hir  (the  Tall) ,  ruler  of  Gwynedd,  the  great-great- 
grandson  of  Cunedda,  was  certainly  an  outstanding  figure  in 
his  time.  Beginning  his  rise  to  power  by  the  slaughter  of  his 
uncle  and  his  uncle's  troops,  he  seems  to  have  shrunk  before 
no  crirne  which  he  felt  was  necessary  to  attain  his  ambition. 
If  we  would  believe  his  detractors,  we  must  hold  him  guilty 
of  the  murder  of  his  wife  and  nephew,  and  as  being  the  intro- 
ducer of  an  unusual  and  unpleasant  vice.  That  Gildas,  whose 
contemporary  he  was,  had  some  good  cause  to  hate  his  name 
seems  clear,  but  when  we  find  him  referring  to  Maelgwn's 
bards  as  "  rascally,  lying  quacks  who  serve  him  [by]  spitting 
out  their  bacchanalian  ravings  "  we  confess  to  a  feeling  that 
Gildas  was  prejudiced.1  Good  or  bad,  it  is  certain  that  the 
royal  house  of  which  he  was  a  representative  lasted  until  1282, 
when  Prince  I/lywelyn,  last  of  the  line  to  rule  in  Gwynedd,2 
was  slain  in  the  wars  against  Edward  Plantagenet.  It  is  also 
certain  that  he  extended  considerably  the  boundaries  of 
Gwynedd  and  became  a  powerful  king,  as  kings  were  accounted 
in  those  days,  and,  what  is  more  to  his  credit,  did  not  permit 
war  to  prevent  him  from  encouraging  the  arts  of  peace,  for 
he  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  bards  and  poetry. 

There  is  an  interesting  legend  connected  with  this  Maelgwn 
which  reminds  one  of  the  happenings  connected  with  the  later 
story  of  Cnut.  It  appears  that,  despite  the  evil  things  which 
Gildas  has  to  say  of  him,  Maelgwn  was,  as  we  have  suggested, 
a  vigorous,  if  unscrupulous,  tribal  chief.  At  first  his  energies 
were  devoted  to  bringing  the  other  tribes  which  lay  to  the 
south  of  his  territory  under  his  rule.  After  some  struggles, 
the  exact  nature  of  which  is  unknown  to  us,  tradition  informs 
us  that  the  various  chiefs  assembled  at  Aberdovey.  There 
they  were  to  decide  who  should  be  king  of  Britain.  The  lot, 
it  was  determined,  should  fall  upon  the  one  who  could  defy 

1  The  conflict  between  bard  and  monk  was  continuous  in  Wales  throughout 
the  mediaeval  period. 

*  David,  of  course,  was  not  put  to  death  by  Edward  until  October  1283, 
but  he  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  having  reigned. 

«5 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  tide  longest.  In  passing  we  may  remark  that  owing  to 
the  extremely  gradual  slope  of  the  sands  at  Aberdovey  the 
tide  rises  there  very  slowly  indeed.  Maelgwn  was  fortunate 
in  having  as  an  ally  one  Maeldav,  an  enchanter,  who  fashioned 
for  him  a  chair  which  could  ride  on  the  water.  Upon  this 
Maelgwn  sat.  The  result,  of  course,  is  obvious.  While  his 
opponents  were  forced  by  the  rising  tide  to  retire,  Maelgwn 
rode  proudly  on  his  magic  chair.  He  was  chosen  king,  and 
apparently  united  the  western  parts  of  Britain,  bringing  them 
all  under  his  sway.  The  exact  extent  of  his  kingdom  we 
cannot  even  guess  at,  although  it  not  improbably  included 
Cumbria.  We  do  not  know  whether  he  ever  led  his  troops 
against  the  Saxons,  though  of  a  certainty  it  was  the  eastern 
part  of  what  was  once  his  kingdom  that  was  ravaged  after 
the  disastrous  defeat  at  Deorham  in  577.  Maelgwn  himself 
did  not  die  on  the  battlefield  ;  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow 
plague  in  547.  This  Maelgwn  was,  as  we  have  said,  one  of 
the  reputed  kings  of  Britain,  whose  title  of  Wledig  was 
probably  based  on  some  sort  of  claim  to  be  the  successor  of 
the  Roman  Dux  Britanniarum. 

WEAKNESS  OF  THE  WELSH  TRIBAL  SYSTEM 

With  regard  to  these  ancient  kings  it  is  necessary  to  observe 
that  it  is  improbable  that  the  territories  over  which  they  ruled 
were  wide.  Britain  had  from  very  early  times  been  ruled  by 
many  kings.  No  permanent  attempt  at  centralization  of 
government  seems  ever  to  have  been  made  by  the  Brythons 
at  any  period  of  their  occupation  of  England  or  Wales. 
Occasionally  a  leader  of  greater  power  or  wider  view  rises  up 
and  links  together  the  scattered  tribes  into  something  of  a 
kingdom,  but  for  the  most  part  these  kings  were,  it  would 
seem,  mere  tribal  leaders.  The  reason  for  this  we  can  only 
guess  at  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  these  early 
centuries.  It  is  now  fairly  well  established,  thanks  largely 
to  the  researches  of  Seebohm,1  that  the  Cymry  had  a  highly 
developed  system  of  tribal  holding  of  land,  a  land  system  based, 

1  And  also,  perhaps  we  should  add,  to  the  late  Hubert  Lewis. 

86 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

as  regards  the  Cymry,  though  possibly  not  extending  to  the 
strangers  within  their  borders,  almost  entirely  on  kinship, 
on  membership  of  a  tribe  or  family — a  land  system  under 
which  the  family  estates  remained  in  the  tribe  for  generations, 
the  descendants  of  a  particular  stock  taking  the  place  of  their 
particular  ancestors,  until  after  so  many  generations  a  final 
division  seems  to  have  taken  place,  each  of  the  persons  to 
whom  the  various  parts  were  given  apparently  establishing 
a  new  tribe,  separate,  as  regards  land-holding,  from  the  rest. 
This  matter  we  shall  have  to  consider  at  greater  length  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.     We  mention  it  here  in  order  to  point 
out  that  such  a  system,  which  existed  in  Ireland  in  a  similar 
form  and  with  a  similar  effect,  cuts  right  across  any  possible 
system  of  centralization.    Nothing  shows  the  statesmanship 
of  William  I  more  clearly  than  the  gemot  of  Salisbury,  where 
he  required  all  the  tenants-in-chief  of  land  in  England  to 
swear  fealty  to  him  as  the  one  supreme  overlord  of  all  for 
their  land.     William  had  learnt  his  lesson  in  France.     He  had 
seen  how  the  turbulent  barons  of  the  Continent  (he  himself 
was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  examples)  could  defy  their 
nominal  chief,  could  wage  war  in  his  realm  and,  if  need  be, 
against  him,  and  that  with  success.     He  determined  that  this 
evil  system  should  never  be  planted  in  England  by  him.     He 
found,  however,  that  the  seed  was  already  there,  yes,  and 
truly  that  the  custom  of  centuries  had  developed  it  into  a 
strong  and  noxious  plant.     The  gemot  of  Salisbury  plucked 
it  out  for  ever  as  regards  England.     Henceforth  in  England 
there  was  one  king,  one  overlord,  one  person  and  one  person 
only  to  whom  all  tenants  of  land  (in  those  days  particularly 
the  birthplace  of  all  political  power)  owed  allegiance.     With 
Britain,  and  in  later  times  with  Gymru,  it  was  otherwise. 
Men  had  overlords,  but  they  were  petty  tribal  chiefs.    These 
petty  chiefs,  it  may  be,  were  bound  by  weak  ties,  we  believe 
very  weak  ties,  to  a  higher  or  more  important  chief,  but  there 
would  appear  to  have  been  no  general  system  whereby  these 
chiefs  held  their  land  from  one  general  overlord,  or  indeed 
from  any  overlord.    They  would  seem  to  have  claimed  their 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

holding,  ultimately,  as  being  descended  from  a  landowning 
tribe,  not  as  being  the  grantees  of  an  overlord  who  had  given 
them  land  in  return  for  services,  and  for  so  long,  and  for  so 
long  only,  as  those  services  were  rendered.  In  saying  this 
we  must  not  be  understood  to  be  supporting  the  now  exploded 
theory  that  feudalism  came  in  with  the  Conqueror.  It  was 
fairly  developed  in  England  doubtless  some  time  before  the 
Conquest.  We  are  now  speaking,  not  of  Saxon  England,  but 
of  Britain  and  of  Cymru. 

This  point  should  be  grasped  most  carefully.  We  hold  the 
view  that  no  man  can  understand  the  most  ordinary  events 
of  history  without  some  knowledge  of  the  everyday  life,  the 
circumstances  of  existence  of  the  everyday  man  (the  '  man  in 
the  street/  so  to  say),  who  when  all  is  said  and  done  is  the 
person  who  forms  the  machine  which  the  master  minds  control 
and  move.  It  is  useless  to  blame  the  Cymric  chiefs  for  failing 
to  join  their  forces  under  one  chief  who  could  lead  them  to 
battle  against  their  numerous  enemies  with  some  hope  of 
success  when  the  root  reason  for  this  failure  to  coalesce  is  to 
be  found,  not  in  the  absence  of  statecraft  on  the  part  of  the 
leaders,  but  in  the  circumstances  of  the  life  of  their  followers, 
which  of  necessity  split  up  interests  into  a  thousand  parts 
and  made  each  little  family  tribe  foreign  in  interest  to  the 
tribes  which  bordered  on  its  own  small  holding.  Exactly 
the  same  sort  of  evil  division  of  national  might  into  a  myriad 
of  small  conflicting  groups  is  to  be  seen  in  England  in  the 
Middle  Ages  in  the  world  of  commerce.  Each  little  town 
bound  by  the  ties  of  guild  and  borough  community  was  as 
foreign  to  the  neighbouring  towns  as  Danzig  is  to  Bath. 
Community  of  interest  was  lacking ;  town  fought  against 
town  ;  charters  were  framed  to  beat  down  commercial  dealing 
with  the  next  town  though  it  were  but  a  league  distant.  The 
result  was  disastrous.  For  proof,  look  round  the  cities  of 
England  which  are  to-day  thriving  and  prosperous.  They  are 
in  numberless  cases  free  towns  which  grew  up  in  later  times 
unencumbered  by  this  vicious  system  of  petty  rivalry.  It 
was,  we  believe,  the  same  in  Britain.  All  through  this  history, 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

with,  a  few  important  and  honourable  exceptions,  we  shall 
find  no  general  attempt  to  gather  all  the  available  forces  under 
one  strong  leader.  Even  when  one  would  have  thought  all 
parties  and  all  tribes  should  have  joined  to  meet  a  common 
enemy  we  shall  find  either  no  combination  or  a  weak  one 
based  on  treaty  interest,  which,  like  all  such,  breaks  down 
at  the  critical  stage  by  a  crafty  opponent  weaning  away 
with  bright  promises  one  or  more  of  the  more  easily  bribed 
confederates. 

ARTHUR 

One  of  the  kings  of  Britain  who  made  some  sort  of  successful 
attempt  to  consolidate  the  native  forces  against  the  Continental 
invaders  was  Arthur,  if  legend  speaks  truly.  Even  he,  however, 
never  ruled  over  all  Britain,  though  his  realm,  which  was  in 
the  west,  seems  to  have  been  of  considerable  extent.  Whether 
this  same  Arthur  is  a  legendary  character  or  was  a  real  king  is 
not  by  any  means  free  from  doubt.  Caxton  seems  to  have 
had  some  doubts  on  the  matter,  for  in  his  preface  to  Malory's 
Morte  d' Arthur  we  find  him  writing:  "Divers  men  hold 
opinion  that  there  was  no  such  Arthur,  and  that  all  such 
books  as  been  made  of  him  be  feigned  and  fables,  because  that 
some  chronicles  make  of  him  no  mention,  nor  remember  him 
nothing,  nor  of  his  knights.  Whereto  they  answered,  and  one 
in  special  said,  that  in  him  that  should  say  or  think  that  there 
never  was  such  a  king  called  Arthur  might  well  be  aretted 
great  folly  and  blindness.  For  he  said  that  there  were  many 
evidences  of  the  contrary.  First  ye  may  see  his  sepulchre  in 
the  monastery  of  Glastonbury.  And  also  in  Policronicon,  in 
the  fifth  book  the  sixth  chapter,  and  in  the  seventh  book  the 
twenty-third  chapter,  where  his  body  was  buried,  and  after 
found,  and  translated  into  the  said  monastery.  Ye  shall  see 
also  in  the  history  of  Bochas,  in  his  book  De  Casu  Principum, 
part  of  his  noble  acts,  and  also  of  his  fall.  Also  Galfridus  in 
his  British  book  recounteth  his  life  :  and  in  divers  places  of 
England  many  remembrances  be  yet  of  him,  and  shall  remain 
perpetually,  and  also  of  his  knights.  First  in  the  Abbey  of 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Westminster  at  St.  Edward's  shrine,  remaineth  the  print  of 
his  seal  in  red  wax  closed  in  beryl,  in  which  is  written,  Patricius 
Arthurus  Britannie,  Gallic,  Germanic,  Dacie,  Impcrator.  Item 
in  the  Castle  of  Dover  ye  may  see  Gawaine's  skull  and  Cradok's 
mantle  :  at  Winchester  the  Round  Table  :  in  other  places 
I/auncelot's  sword  and  many  other  things.  .  .  .  And  yet  of 
record  remain  in  witness  of  him  in  Wales,  in  the  town  of 
Camelot,  the  great  stones  and  the  marvellous  works  of  iron 
lying  under  the  ground,  and  royal  vaults,  which  divers  now 
living  have  seen.  Wherefore  it  is  a  marvel  why  he  is  no  more 
renowned  in  his  own  country,  save  only  it  accordeth  to  the 
Word  of  God,  which  saith  that  no  man  is  accepted  for  a 
prophet  in  his  own  country." 

It  would  certainly  be  marvellous  if  a  king  who  had  extended 
his  sway  over  Gaul  and  Germany  as  well  as  England  and  Wales, 
and  that  in  the  sixth  century,  should  have  been  regarded  as 
of  so  little  importance  by  his  countryman  and  contemporary 
Gildas  that  he  failed  even  to  mention  his  name.  It  is  clearly 
no  answer  to  say  that  Gildas  was  a  native  of  Strathclyde,  and 
not  of  Wales  or  Cornwall.  The  deeds  ascribed  to  Arthur  by 
Wace,  Walter  Map,  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and  Thomas 
Malory,  had  they  been  true  even  to  the  tenth  part,  would 
have  carried  the  name  of  Arthur  far  beyond  the  bounds  of 
Strathclyde,  would  have  been  seized  upon  by  a  far  less  discern- 
ing writer  than  Gildas,  and  would  have  formed  a  bright  interlude 
in  his  "  tearful  discourse  concerning  the  ruin  of  Britain,"  as 
Bede  described  his  history.1  Indeed,  it  were  waste  of  space 
even  to  suggest  that  the  Arthur  of  the  Arthurian  legends  ever 
lived.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  there  was  no  such 
king,  nor  can  we  say  that  he  did  not  accomplish  some  con- 
siderable deeds  of  valour  and  statecraft.  Nennius,  writing  at 
the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  mentions  him  and  ascribes 
twelve  victories  over  the  Saxons  to  his  hero.  The  phrases  in 

1  Giraldus  tells  us,  in  explanation  of  the  fact  that  Gildas  does  not  mention 
his  contemporary  Arthur,  that  he,  Gildas,  angry  at  the  death  of  his  brother, 
prince  of  Albania  (whom  Arthur  slew),  threw  into  the  sea  "  many  excellent 
books,  in  which  he  had  described  the  actions  of  Arthur."  There  is,  of  course, 
no  ground  whatever  for  this  statement. 

90 


PLATE  XXIV.     THE  ROUND  TABLE  AT  WINCHESTER  HALT, 

Photo  G.  W.  Wilson  6-  Co.  90 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

which  he  relates  these  victories  do  not  ring  true.  We  suspect 
that  there  was  but  little  true  history  underlying  them.  In 
one  of  them  (also  found  in  the  Annales  Cambriae)  Arthur  goes 
into  battle  bearing  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary  on  his 
shoulders ;  the  pagans  thereupon  flee,  and  suffer  a  great 
slaughter.  One's  thoughts  instinctively  turn  to  the  battle  of 
Chester,  fought  against  these  same  pagans,  where  the  Britons 
went  into  battle  led  by  more  than  a  thousand  holy  men,  who 
had  fasted  so  that  their  prayers  might  win  victory  for  their 
side,  and  one  remembers  that  the  result  of  that  act  of  piety 
was  the  massacre  of  the  monks  and  the  complete  victory  of 
the  pagans.  No  one  who  bears  in  mind  Cromwell's  battle 
of  Dunbar  would  deny  to  piety  a  victory-winning  force,  but 
Nennius  carries  little  conviction  to  us  when  he  tells  us  of  the 
pagans  fleeing  at  the  mere  sight  of  an  image — of  the  significance 
of  which  they  could  not  have  had  the  remotest  knowledge. 
Then,  again,  in  the  account  of  the  battle  of  Mount  Badon  we 
find  that  Arthur  himself  and  unaided  is  accredited  with  the 
slaughter  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty  men  !  Romance  !  The 
Annales  Cambriae,  a  still  later  compilation,  contains  as  one  of 
its  first  entries,  under  date  516,  an  account  of  this  Mount 
Badon  battle,  in  which  Arthur  is  described  as  the  victorious 
leader  of  the  Britons,  and  we  have  a  poem  celebrating  the 
victory.  We  also  find  him  mentioned,  in  conjunction  with  one 
Medrant,  in  the  same  chronicle  under  date  537.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  he  is  not  referred  to  in  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  (The 
Chronicle  of  the  Princes) .  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  a  much  later 
writer,  has,  however,  something  to  say  of  him.  How  it  was 
that  the  name  of  Arthur  lived  on  in  the  song  of  poet,  Welsh, 
English,  and  French,  and  in  the  later  historio-romances  of  such 
men  as  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  and  Giraldus  we  shall  see  when 
we  come  to  consider  the  Arthurian  legends. 

In  this  state  of  our  knowledge  we  will  merely  express  the 
hope  that  Arthur  was  a  leader  of  the  Britons  on  the  borders  of 
Wales,  having  his  seat  at  Caerleon-upon-Usk ;  improving  the 
morals  of  his  knights  (there  is  ample  historical  evidence  to 
show  that  these  same  Britons  had  learnt  much  evil  as  well  as 

91 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

good  from  the  Romans)  ;  endeavouring  to  unite  his  followers 
by  giving  to  each  equally  with  himself  a  seeming  equality  ; 
and  finally  leading  this  noble  and  united  band  against  the 
barbarian  Cynric.  One  thing  at  least  is  sure.  Cynric's  reign 
is  marked  by  a  comparative  absence  of  battles  against  the 
Britons.  Somebody  or  something  must  have  checked  the 
invader  about  the  time  that  Arthur  is  supposed  to  have  lived. 

VOTEPORI 

The  name  of  another  South  Wales  prince  or  leader  also 
flits  before  us.  This  was  that  king  whose  name  appears  as 
Voteporigis  in  the  Latin  and  Votecorigis  in  the  Goidelic  tongue. 
Of  him  we  know  but  little  save  his  name.  Gildas  refers  to 
him  and  makes  him  tyrant  of  Dyfed.  He  appears  under  the 
name  Guotepir  as  the  ancestor,  or  perhaps  we  should  say  the 
precursor,1  of  Arthur.  If  we  believe  Gildas  we  must  regard 
him  as  one  of  the  men  who  were  responsible  for  the  loss 
of  Britain.  He  is  painted  as  the  vile  son  of  a  good  father, 
whose  name  was  Aricol  or  Agricola.  That  he  actually  lived  is 
certain,  for  a  monument  "  In  memory  of  the  protector  Vote- 
pori "  was  discovered  in  1895  in  about  the  centre  of  what 
must  have  been  his  kingdom  of  Dyfed.  Whether  we  are 
to  hold  him  guilty  of  the  sins  which  Gildas  would  have  us 
associate  with  his  name  is  very  doubtful.  The  use  of  the  word 
'  protector '  would  seem  to  show  that  his  subjects  regarded 
him  as  not  unworthy  of  a  title  which  in  past  years  was  held 
by  the  Roman  generals  who  held  the  country  against  the 
barbarians.  Writers  have  suggested  that  this  title  of  pro- 
tector in  the  case  of  Votepori  meant  simply  that  he  was  an 
honorary  member  of  the  emperor's  bodyguard.  Perhaps 
Mr.  Nicholson  is  more  correct  when  he  gives  it  its  more  natural 
meaning,  viz.  that  Votepori  was  regarded  as  the  protector  of 
his  people.  Whether  he  protected  them  against  the  Goidels 

1  See  Mr.  E.  W.  B.  Nicholson's  article  in  Y  Cymmrodor,  vol.  xxi,  where  he 
brings  forward  some  convincing  arguments  to  show  that  the  so-called  Harleian 
Genealogies  are  not,  in  some  cases  at  any  rate,  genealogies,  but  merely  tables 
of  succession.  The  line  in  the  table  we  quote  from  at  present  runs  Guotepir — 
Cuicar — Petr — Arthur,  etc. 

92 


THE    BIRTH    OF   THE    CYMRY 

of  South  Wales  or  of  Ireland,  or  the  Scots,  or  the  Saxons,  or 
sea-rovers,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

To  sum  up,  we  may  perhaps  regard  Votepori  as  a  king  of 
Dyfed  somewhat  earlier  in  date  than  Arthur,  who  made  a 
mark  upon  his  time  as  a  leader  of  his  people.  We  may, 
perhaps,  acquit  him  of  the  sins  of  which  Gildas  accuses  him, 
even  as  we  look  lightly  upon  the  reputed  crimes  of  that  other 
king  Cinglas  of  the  genealogies  (that  Cuneglasus  for  whom 
Gildas  has  so  many  hard  words) ,  who  was  of  the  age  of  Maelgwn, 
and  who  probably  did  nothing  more  wicked  than  object  to 
his  brothers'  generous  gifts  to  the  Church,  and,  maybe,  contract 
an  irregular  marriage. 

GILDAS  THE  REFORMER 

Before  passing  on  to  an  account  of  the  later  kings  of  ancient 
Cymry  it  is  desirable  to  say  something  of  this  Gildas  whose 
name  we  have  so  frequently  mentioned.  In  one  sense  he  is 
the  only  living  man  of  the  sixth  century  in  Britain.  Although 
a  monk  rather  than  a  man  of  action,  yet,  through  his  writings, 
this  cleric  is  known  to  us  far  better  than  are  those  warriors 
whose  lives  must  have  been  spent  in  fighting,  in  the  protection 
of  the  people,  or  in  the  extension  of  their  power. 

This  man  of  the  Clyde  was  born  in  the  year  in  which  Arthur 
is  supposed  to  have  fought  and  won  the  battle  of  Mount 
Badon.  He  therefore  belongs  in  point  of  time  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixth  century.  He  was  evidently  admirably 
educated,  and  possessed  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
classics  and  a  command  of  I^atin  (although,  unfortunately,  he 
has  an  unhappy  style)  so  great  as  to  be  immeasurably  superior 
to  the  later  author  of  the  Historia  Brittonum.  In  short,  he 
was  a  schoolman,  a  classic,  and  a  diligent  student  of  the  Bible. 
As  to  his  religion,  he  was  a  Christian,  and,  unlike  Bede,  came 
of  Christian  stock  and  belonged  to  a  Christian  people.  He 
refers  to  the  ancient  pagan  worship  as  belonging  to  the  far- 
away past.  For  him  the  old-time  worship  of  trees  and 
streams  had  no  meaning.  He  was  in  all  things  a  member 
of  the  British  Church — indeed,  a  bigoted  and  narrow-minded 

93 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

monk.  In  nationality,  though,  perhaps,  by  birth  either  a 
Goidel  or  a  Briton,  he  was  in  sentiment  entirely  Roman.  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  his  heart  was  well-nigh  breaking  at  the 
thought  that  Roman  learning  and  all  the  glories  of  that 
wonderful  Empire  were  slipping  away  and  that  his  countrymen 
were  falling  back  into  a  relative  barbarity.  With  this  noble 
sorrow  we  cannot  but  sympathize,  but  it  is  a  matter  for  regret 
that  his  continual  lamentations  and  invective  have  robbed 
his  work  of  much  of  its  value  as  a  history.  That  he  had  cause 
to  inveigh  against  the  wickedness  of  his  age  is  probable.  The 
age  has  not  yet  been  in  which  one  fired  with  religious  zeal 
could  not  justly  account  his  kind  vile.  As  to  Britain  of  the 
early  sixth  century,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  in  urgent  need 
of  a  religious  revival.  This  at  least  Gildas  accomplished,  so 
effectively,  indeed,  that  the  evening  of  his  day  was  spent  in 
directing  the  religious  movement  which  his  earlier  writings 
had  inspired.  It  was  to  this  later  movement  that  St.  David 
belongs. 

THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BERNICIA 

While  this  religious  movement  was  progressing  in  eastern 
Britain  a  movement  of  a  very  different  kind  was  advancing 
from  the  west  and  north.  The  kingdom  of  Bernicia,  founded 
by  Ide  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  was  by  the 
beginning  of  the  seventh  century  an  important  state  threaten- 
ing the  very  existence  of  the  Cymry  of  both  Strathclyde  and 
Gwynedd,  and  ruled  over  by  that  Aethelfrith  whom  Bede 
describes  as  a  very  Saul  for  plundering  his  enemies,  a  leader 
who  made  more  Britons  slaves  and  drove  more  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  from  their  lands  than  any  other  Saxon  king. 
Perhaps  Professor  I/loyd  is  correct  when  he  suggests  that  it 
was  the  pressure  which  the  rising  power  of  Bernicia  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  Britons  of  the  west  that  created  the  term 
Cymry.  The  Briton  and  the  Goidel  cast  aside  race  distinction 
in  the  face  of  a  common  foe  and  united  as  '  countrymen '  to 
make  a  combined  resistance. 

It  was  perhaps  to  the  earlier  years  of  this  struggle  that 

94 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

Urien  ap  Cynfach,  mentioned  in  the  Saxon  Genealogies,1 
belongs.  There  we  find  him  described  as  the  greatest  leader 
of  the  Britons ;  we  find  him  besieging  his  enemies  in  I^indisf  arne 
and  carrying  out  an  important  campaign,  the  final  success  of 
which  was  only  prevented  by  the  treachery  of  one  Morcant 
or  Morgan,  who  planned  and  effected  the  death  of  his  chief. 
The  name  Urien  lived  on,  of  course,  in  many  a  Welsh  story, 
and  it  would  seem  that  here  we  have  a  notable  British  chieftain 
of  the  north  who  spent  his  life  resisting  the  inroads  of  the 
invaders.  To  about  the  same  time,  or  perhaps  earlier,  belongs 
that  Rhydderch  who  was  credited  with  a  great  British  victory 
at  Arderydd,  near  Carlisle,  in  575.  His  doings  are,  however, 
but  little  known  to  us,  and  we  must  pass  him  by  and  turn  to 
a  consideration  of  that  other  leader,  Rhun  or  Run,  who  appears 
in  the  Harleian  Genealogies  as  the  successor  of  Mailcun  or 
Maelgwn  Gwynedd. 

RHUN 

In  the  laws  of  Howel  Dha  we  find  a  reference  to  this  Rhun, 
who  is  there  also  given  as  the  son  of  Maelgwn.  It  appears 
that  he  was  either  the  established  or  the  usurping  prince  of 
Arvon.  (The  doubt  exists  since  he  is  believed  by  some  to 
have  been  illegitimate.)  Arvon  was  that  part  of  Carnarvon 
which  lies  between  Bangor  and  Celynwg.  It  appears  that  a 
certain  Elidge  the  Courteous  came  to  Arvon  from  the  north 
and  was  slain.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  importance, 
so  that  we  find  '  the  men  of  the  north '  coming  southward  to 
avenge  his  death.  In  this  they  were  apparently  successful, 
destroying  Arvon  with  fire.  Then  it  was  that  Rhun  assembled 
the  men  of  Gwynedd  in  arms,  and  proceeded  after  the 
northerners,  who  not  improbably  were  retiring  to  their  homes, 
as  far  as  the  river  Gweryd  (Wear  ?).  Having  got  so  far,  the 
leaders  appear  to  have  had  a  fierce  discussion  as  to  who  was 
entitled  to  precedence  in  passing  over  the  river.  The  whole 
campaign  seems  to  have  been  so  protracted  that  it  caused 
murmurings  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers,  who,  we  gather,  had 

1  Nennius,  §  63. 

95 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

good  cause  to  want  to  get  back  to  their  homes.  However  this 
may  be,  we  find  Rhun  granting  the  men  of  Arvon,  ostensibly 
as  a  reward  for  the  trials  of  this  campaign,  but  possibly  in 
order  to  strengthen  his  grip  on  the  throne,  fourteen  privileges. 
In  later  times  Cadwallawn  found  it  desirable  to  extend  similar 
rights  to  the  men  of  Powys.  These  grants  were  unimportant 
in  nature,  so  that  one  example  must  suffice.  Thus  we  read 
that  the  men  of  Arvon  were  never  to  be  required  to  drink 
'  stinted '  measure — that  is  to  say,  to  drink  a  small  amount 
measured  with  the  finger. 

CADVAN 

We  have  but  little  knowledge  of  the  kings  who  reigned 
over  Gwynedd  or  any  part  of  Wales  between  the  time  of 
Rhun  and  Cadvan.  From  the  Harleian  Genealogies  it  appears 
that  the  successor  of  Rhun  was  Beli,  and  that  after  Beli  his 
son,  lago,  ruled.  Of  Cadvan  we  know  a  little  more.  This  king, 
the  father  of  Caedwalla,  or  more  correctly  Cadwallawn,  died 
c.  617.  He  was  descended  from  Cunedda.  He  appears  to 
have  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  wars  against  the  Northum- 
brians, which  terminated  so  fatally  in  the  battle  of  Chester. 
It  has  been  conjectured  that  an  inscription,  Catamanus  rex 
sapientisimus  opinatisimus  omnium  regum,  found  on  a  stone 
above  a  door  in  the  church  of  Llangadwaladr,  in  Anglesey, 
refers  to  him.  If  this  be  so,  it  is  probable  that  the  centre  of 
the  royal  power  of  Gwynedd  had  already  been  removed  from 
Deganwy  to  Aberffraw — which  remained  the  princely  house 
until  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Welsh  princes. 

CADWALLAWN 

Cadvan  is,  however,  chiefly  known  to  history  as  the  father 
of  the  more  famous  Cadwallawn,  who  apparently  commenced 
to  reign  over  Gwynedd  in  617.  This  Cadwallawn  inherited 
his  father's  enmity  for  the  Northumbrians.  Aethelfrith  had 
earned  the  bitter  hatred  of  the  Venedotians  1  by  his  victory  at 
Chester,  and  Cadwallawn  seems  to  have  set  himself  the  task 

1  An  alternative  name  for  the  men  of  North  Wales,  or  Venedote. 

96 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

of  wiping  out  this  defeat  and  re-establishing  the  old  connexion 
with  his  fellow-countrymen  of  Strathclyde.  We  read  of  him 
invading  Northumbria  in  629,  where,  however,  he  suffered 
defeat  at  the  hands  of  Eadwine,  Aethelfrith's  successor.  This 
battle,  which  probably  took  place  near  Morpeth,  resulted  in 
the  Welsh  king  being  driven  back  to  Venedotia.  According 
to  the  Annales  Cambriae,  we  find,  under  date  629,  a  certain 
Catguollaun,  who  may  be  identified  with  Cadwallawn,  besieged 
in  the  island  of  Glannauc.  It  has  been  suggested  that  this 
was  the  island  of  Priestholm,  near  Anglesey.  We  may  perhaps 
infer  from  this  that  the  Northumbrians  had  replied  to  Cad- 
wallawn's  bold  move  by  carrying  the  war  into  his  own  country. 
However  this  may  be,  we  find  him  escaping  to  Ireland.  He 
appears  to  have  used  his  time  of  exile  in  thinking  out  a  scheme 
by  means  of  which  he  could  recover  his  lost  fortunes  and 
finally  overthrow  his  hereditary  enemies.  The  decision  he 
came  to  is  certainly  surprising.  One  would  have  thought  that 
the  last  ally  with  whom  a  Christian  king  would  identify  him- 
self would  have  been  Penda  the  Mercian,  who  was  regarded  by 
his  people  as  the  champion  of  paganism  against  Christianity. 
Nevertheless  Cadwallawn  in  fact  did  determine  to  join  himself 
as  ally  with  Penda1  in  order  to  work  the  final  overthrow  of 
the  Northumbrians.  In  633  the  Mercian  and  the  Venedotian 
invaded  Northumbria  and  defeated  and  slew  Eadwine  at  the 
battle  of  Hatfield  Chase  (Heathfield).  Penda  does  not  appear 
to  have  followed  up  his  victory,  but  Cadwallawn,  with  the 
slaughter  of  Chester  and  his  own  defeats  in  his  mind,  ravaged 
southern  Northumbria.  In  this  devastation  of  Deira  he  seems 
to  have  shown  the  greatest  ferocity.  Not  only  did  he  put  to 
death  man,  woman,  and  child,  but  he  put  them  to  death  by 
torture.  In  634  we  find  him  defeating  and  killing  Osric, 
cousin  to  Eadwine,  and  Eanfrith,  son  of  Aethelfrith.  It 
seemed,  indeed,  as  though  Chester  and  the  Irish  exile  were 
being  amply  repaid.  With  the  accession  to  power  of  Oswald 
the  tables  were  again  turned.  At  the  battle  of  Oswald's 
Cross  (Heavenfield),  near  Hexham,  after  certain  pious  exercises, 

1  One  genealogy  makes  him  Penda's  brother-in-law. 

G  97 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  Northumbrians  attacked  and  completely  defeated  the 
British  king.  Cadwallawn  himself  fled,  was  pursued,  and 
slain  on  the  banks  of  a  small  stream  near  Dilston,  east  of 
Hexham. 

CADWALADR 

Cadwallawn  left  a  kingdom  shattered  by  this  great  defeat. 
His  successor  was  Cadwaladr  Vendigaid  (the  Blessed).  Details 
relating  to  his  reign  are  almost  non-existent.  He  possibly 
joined  Penda  as  ally,  as  his  father  had  done,  in  which  case 
he  is  somewhat  ill-named,  for  the  leader  of  the  British  forces 
which  were  undoubtedly  allied  to  Penda  played  a  singularly 
ignoble  part,  basely  deserting  with  the  whole  of  his  followers 
the  night  before  the  battle  of  Winwaed,  and  thus  contributing 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  aged  pagan 
fighter  Penda  of  Mercia.  For  this  piece  of  treachery  that 
British  leader  (whoever  he  may  be,  and  the  dates  tally  with 
Cadwaladr's  reign)  earned  the  base  title  of  '  the  king  who  ran 
away.' J 

This  battle  of  Winwaed  has  been  regarded  by  some  as  the 
most  important  battle  that  was  ever  fought  in  pre-Norman 
England.  Its  site  has  been  tentatively  identified  by  J.  Travis 
Mills  as  the  place  where  "  the  Ermine  Street  crossed,  and  still 
crosses,  the  river  Went  near  the  modern  Standing  Flats 
Bridge,  some  two  miles  to  the  south  of  Pontefract."  The 
importance  of  the  struggle  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  decided 
finally  that  the  Britons  were  not  to  be  henceforth  the  ruling 
race  in  England.2 

As  to  Cadwaladr,  if  he  were  not  '  the  king  who  ran  away  ' 
(and  since  we  cannot  prove  it  we  must  acquit  him  of  that 
charge),  we  know  singularly  little  of  him.  Even  the  place  of 
his  death  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  our  two  primary  authorities, 
theAnnales  Cambriae  and  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes,  giving 

1  I,loyd  states  that  it  was  Cadaf ael,  mentioned  in  the  Triads  as  one  of  the 
three  peasant  kings  of  Britain,  who  earned  this  title.     Cf.  Nennius,  §  65. 

2  From  the  point  of  view  of  Saxon  history  it  was  immensely  important  in 
consequence  of  the  fact  that  Christianity  was  established  as  the  dominant 
religion. 


THE    BIRTH    OF    THE    CYMRY 

very  different  accounts.  According  to  later  historic-romancers, 
after  reigning  twelve  years  he  was  driven  from  Britain  by  the 
plague  and  sought  refuge  in  Armorica,  from  whence  he  later 
returned  to  fight  against  the  Saxons.  Although  showing  the 
greatest  personal  bravery,  he  seems  to  have  been  fighting  a 
losing  battle,  and  we  therefore  find  him  retiring  to  Rome. 
Probably  this  last  fact  comes  from  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes, 
which  commences  with  the  words  :  "  Six  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  was  the  year  of  Christ  when  the  great  mortality  took  place 
through  the  whole  island  of  Britain.  And  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  until  that  period  one  year  was  wanting  of  five 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty  years.  And  in  that  year 
Cadwaladr  the  Blessed,  son  of  Cadwallawn,  son  of  Cadvan, 
king  of  the  Britons,  died  at  Rome,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  May ; 
as  Myrddin  [Merlin]  had  previously  prophesied  to  Vortigern 
of  Repulsive  Lips  ;  and  thenceforth  the  Britons  lost  the  crown 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  Saxons  gained  it." 

If  we  turn,  however,  to  the  Annales  we  find  a  less  fulsome, 
but  probably  more  accurate,  account  of  Cadwaladr's  death. 
Under  date  682  we  read  :  "  There  was  a  great  sickness  in 
Britain,  in  which  Catgualart,  son  of  Catguollaun,  perished." 
And  under  date  683  we  read  that  the  same  plague  devastated 
Hibernia.  So  probably  Cadwaladr  died  of  the  plague  in  his 
own  country  of  Venedote.1 

The  entry  in  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes  is,  however,  signifi- 
cant in  one  respect.  With  the  death  of  Cadwaladr  the  kings 
of  Britain  end.  In  future  they  are  but  princes. 

1  Cadwaladr  seems  to  have  been  a  good  son  of  the  Church.  Many  churches 
claim  him  as  their  patron  saint  or  founder,  notably  I^langadwaladr,  in  Mon. 
Professor  Lloyd,  relying  on  the  Saxon  Genealogies  (Nennius,  §  64),  places  his 
death  in  664,  the  year  when  the  plague  raged  with  much  violence. 
History  of  Wales,  vol.  i,  p.  230  n.  See  also  p.  139,  post. 


99 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION    OF   PRE- 
NORMAN  WALES1 

THIS  is  a  convenient  time  in  which  to  break  in  upon 
the  current  of  our  account  of  the  development  of 
the  history  of  the  Cymry  in  order  to  explain  the 
social  and  domestic  condition  of  Wales  in  the  times  anterior 
to  the  coming  of  the  Normans.  The  period  of  which  we  are 
now  treating  may  be  roughly  described  as  that  which  elapsed 
between  the  departure  of  the  Romans  and  the  commencement 
of  the  struggle  with  the  Norman  marchers.  Our  authorities 
are  to  some  extent  Saxon  authorities,  dealing  with  Saxon  times 
and  Saxon  people.  When  we  are  relying  on  them  we  shall 
be  careful  only  to  choose  those  portions  of  their  writings 
which  reflection  has  persuaded  us  are  applicable  to  the  Cymry. 
The  Britons,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  had  been  brought 
into  intimate  connexion  for  many  centuries  with  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Rome.  Compared  with  the  Jutes,  Angles,  Saxons, 
and  Danes  who  later  invaded  Britain,  they  were  a  polished 
and  enlightened  people.  They  were  acquainted  with  Latin 
and  Greek,  and  had  in  their  possession  many  of  the  classics 
written  in  those  tongues.  They  had  inherited  from  the 
Romans  an  advanced  knowledge  of  domestic  architecture, 
and  of  the  arts  and  sciences  which  were  known  to  the  Romans. 
They  cannot  but  have  been  acquainted  with  Roman  law 
They  had  learned  the  methods  of  Roman  traders,  and  they 

1  Lest  the  reader  should  regard  us  as  guilty  of  an  anachronism  in  placing 
this  account,  which  depends  for  its  facts  upon  tenth-  to  fourteenth-century 
works,  so  early  in  this  book,  it  is  desirable  to  point  out  that  there  are  no 
grounds  for  believing  that  the  social  state  of  Wales  altered  materially  between 
the  time  of  Howel  and  Giraldus. 

100 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

had  seen  the  value  of  Roman  roads  and  the  methods  adopted 
by  the  Romans  to  secure  peace  by  an  extended  system  of 
fortified  camps  and  strong,  well-planned  towns.  They  had 
lived  for  centuries  under  a  system  of  land-holding  which  we 
may  describe  as  the  Roman  villa  system.  They  had  been 
for  many  centuries  a  Christian  people,  acquainted  with  the 
various  doctrines  relating  to  that  most  wonderful  religion. 
Yet  it  would  seem  that  they  retained  many  of  their  more 
ancient  customs,  and  infused  even  into  their  religion  forms 
and  peculiarities  which  were  alien  to  the  more  finished  Italian 
system. 

WELSH  FORM  OF  LAND-TENURE 

We  will  first  consider  the  Welsh  mode  of  land-tenure,  since 
the  whole  structure  of  society  does,  as  a  rule,  ultimately 
depend  upon  the  land.  The  unit  of  holding  with  the  Welsh 
was  the  wele  or  gwely.  The  method  by  which  this  unit  was 
held  and  descended  was  somewhat  as  follows  :  Each  Cymro — 
that  is  to  say,  each  Briton  who  was  regarded  as  a  tribesman 
or  compatriot,  as  distinct  from  a  domiciled  stranger  or  foreigner 
— was  of  necessity  a  member  of  a  tribe.  This  tribe  had  in  all 
cases  a  certain  tribal  holding  of  land — the  gwely.  This  unit, 
this  tribal  holding,  remained  in  the  tribe,  and  the  tribe  looked 
back  as  far  as  the  great-grandfather  of  the  final  holders ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  family  group  owning  a  common  ancestor  remained 
as  one  group,  occupying  the  family  land  in  joint  ownership, 
until  the  stage  was  reached  at  which  the  holders  of  the  land 
were  the  great-grandchildren  of  the  common  ancestor  On  the 
great-grandfather's  death  there  was  an  equal  division  of  the 
land  to  his  sons  ;  after  the  death  of  his  sons  to  his  grandsons  ; 
after  the  death  of  his  grandsons  to  his  great-grandsons.  All 
this  time  the  gwely  would  be  referred  to  as  the  gwely  of  A,  the 
common  ancestor.  This  stage  having  been  reached,  there 
would  seem  to  have  been  a  dividing  up  of  the  gwely  among  the 
great-grandsons,  though  it  would  not  appear  that  there  were 
as  many  new  groups  or  gwelys  formed  as  there  were  great- 
grandsons.  Possibly  the  new  gwelys  were  counted,  not  from 

101 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  great-grandsons,  but  from  the  grandsons,  though  this  is 
not  clear. 

We  see,  therefore,  that  during  the  stages  between  the  com- 
mencement and  redivision  of  a  gwely  the  various  holders  of 
the  family  lands  held  jointly  as  kinsmen  tracing  their  descent 
from  a  common  ancestor.  This,  of  course,  explains  the  im- 
portance which  is  attached  to  genealogies  in  all  the  Welsh 
chronicles  and  land-books.  All  title  depended  upon  birth, 
and  an  excellent  proof  of  birth  was  to  be  found  in  these  same 
genealogies,  though  it  could  be  proved  otherwise,  especially 
by  means  of  the  hearthstone. 

Every  tribesman  on  coming  of  age  had  given  to  him  a  portion 
of  land  to  cultivate  for  his  maintenance  (cyvarwys) ,  and  the 
right  to  till  jointly  with  others  the  waste  or  common  land 
and  the  right  to  hunt.  These  gifts  were  not  made  to  him  by 
his  father — for  his  father  had  not  individual  ownership;  it 
was  made  to  him  by  the  tribe,  speaking  probably  through  the 
tribal  chief.  It  is,  indeed,  perhaps  hardly  correct  to  speak  of 
it  as  a  gift ;  it  was  rather  his  by  right,  by  right  of  kin  and 
descent.  Until  the  young  tribesman  reached  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  was  maintained  by  his  father  in  his  father's  home. 
When  that  age  was  reached  he  was  removed  to  his  chief's 
establishment,  became  his  chief's  '  man,'  and  looked  to  his 
chief  for  maintenance.  He  had  also  at  the  same  time  a  gift 
of  cattle  (da)  made  to  him  by  the  chief.  In  later  times  this 
da  included  other  personal  property  besides  cattle.  On  his 
death  without  sons  this  gift  reverted  to  his  lord  ;  if  he  had 
sons  it  seems  probable  that,  at  least  by  the  tenth  century,  the 
sons  inherited.  It  will  be  understood  that  this  gift,  though 
it  came  directly  from  the  chief,  came  indirectly  from  the  tribe, 
for  the  chief  was  custodian  of  the  undivided  communal  property 
— he  merely  distributed  the  common  stock.  It  will  be  observed 
that  as  soon  as  the  child  emerged  from  infancy  he  passed 
completely  out  of  parental  control.  He  became  the  son  of 
the  tribe  rather  than  of  his  father.  This  is  strongly  brought 
out  when  we  consider  the  rules  relating  to  galanas,  or  blood- 
money.  Every  one  familiar  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  dooms  will 

102 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

remember  the  remarkable  provisions  which  assign  to  every 
offence  from  murder  downward  an  appropriate  fine  payable 
as  a  punishment  by  the  offender  or  by  those  who  had  guaran- 
teed in  advance  his  good  behaviour.  These  fines  are  also 
found  in  the  Welsh  laws,  and  are  known  as  galanas.  Now 
if  a  son  committed  murder  his  father's  kin  paid  two-thirds 
and  his  mother's  kin  paid  one-third  of  the  appropriate  galana 
(it  varied  with  the  importance  of  the  murdered  person)  to  the 
kin  of  the  victim.  We  find,  however,  both  in  the  Venedotian 
and  Dimetian  Code  that  the  father  of  the  murderer  paid  nothing 
and  the  father  of  the  victim  received  one  penny  only,  "  since 
his  sen  is  no  relative  to  him."  Again,  we  find  in  a  fifteenth- 
century  treatise  the  following  remarkable  statement :  "  Can 
a  father  complain  for  the  killing  of  his  son  ?  He  cannot : 
he  is  not  within  the  grades  of  affinity." 

So  far  as  to  the  land  within  the  gwely.  This  land  could  not, 
of  course,  be  alienated  by  the  holder  ;  it  had  of  necessity  to 
remain  in  the  family  ;  it  was,  so  to  speak,  entailed  to  the  use 
of  the  kin,  and  it  passed  on  death  in  a  manner  similar,  in 
some  respects,  to  gavelkind  land,  common  in  Kent.  It  is  a 
holding  similar  to  the  old  Irish  system  of  land-holding.  There 
was,  however,  another  system  of  owning  property,  land  as 
well  as  chattels.  Individual  ownership  of  both  was  possible. 
Such  individual  ownership  should  be  kept  distinct  from  the 
holding  within  the  gwely  or  tribe.  This  '  personal '  property 
could  be  alienated  (with  the  consent  of  the  heir),  sold,  given 
away,  settled  as  a  dowry,  etc. ;  it  could  be  held  by  '  strangers,' 
who  could  have  no  part  in  tribal  property. 

Again,  on  marriage  it  was  customary  with  the  Welsh  for 
the  wife  to  have  a  dowry.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  universal 
custom  for  the  Welsh  maid  to  have  some  property  to  take  to 
her  husband.  This  property,  as  in  the  Roman  and  the  modern 
civil  law  systems,  either  passed  to  the  husband  or  was '  declared ' 
as  belonging  to  the  wife.  This,  in  our  opinion,  is  a  heritage 
from  Rome.  The  principle  is  well  known  to-day  in  South 
Africa,  Ceylon  (Roman-Dutch  law),  Quebec  (Civil  law),  and 
Scotland,  as  well  as  upon  the  Continent.  If  the  property  was 

103 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

declared  or  defined  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  it  became  the 
wife's ;  she  was  a  '  proprietrix,'  and  could  contract  debts 
and  bind  herself  in  respect  of  it — a  state  of  things  which  has 
existed  in  England  at  law  (as  distinguished  from  equity)  only 
since  J.882.1  Such  separate  property  passed  to  the  children 
of  the  marriage  on  the  death  of  the  wife. 

This  system  of  land-holding  lived  on  until  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII,  being  expressly  preserved  by  the  Statute  of 
Rhuddlan,  which  permitted  an  alternative  holding  either  in 
the  Welsh  or  English  manner.  It  will  be  remarked  that 
primogeniture  had  no  part  at  any  time  in  the  Welsh  system. 
Even  the  individually  owned  land  probably  went  on  death 
to  the  sons  equally — in  default  of  sons,  it  went  to  the  daughters 
equally. 

There  is  another  peculiarity  found  in  the  "Welsh  system 
which  to  us  looks  like  Roman  law.  As  Seebohm  has  pointed 
out,  the  gwely  resembled  the  group  under  patria  potestas — one 
of  the  most  peculiarly  Roman  domestic  arrangements,  whereby 
all  agnatic  relations  were  under  the  control  of  their  oldest 
common  paternal  ancestor  living.  He  had  absolute  power  in 
early  times  (we  are  speaking  of  Rome  at  the  period  of  the 
Twelve  Tables,  c.  452  B.C.)  over  their  bodies  and  their  property. 
Now  under  the  Roman  system  daughters  were  also  under 
patria  potestas  until  they  married ;  on  marriage  they  passed 
to  the  family  of  their  husband,  and  were  under  the  same 
control  as  their  husband  was.  Under  the  Welsh  system  the 
descendants  of  daughters  were  not  included  in  the  gwely ;  they 
were  included  in  the  kindred  if  they  had  been  married  into  it. 

We  desire  here  to  clear  up  a  doubt  which  may  be  in  the 
mind  of  the  more  critical  reader.  To  say  that  the  Welsh  laws 
are  derived  from  the  Roman  law  by  way  of  the  Roman 
occupation  would  be  a  bold  proposition  to  make.  It  is 
necessary,  therefore,  to  mention  that  our  authority  for  the 
above-mentioned  rules  relating  to  Welsh  law  is  derived  in  the 
main  from  the  Welsh  codes  of  Howel  Dha — a  tenth-century 
compilation  which  dates  in  manuscript  form  from  the  thirteenth 

1  Or  in  certain  cases  since  1870. 
104 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

century.  Howel  had  himself  been  in  Rome ;  he  and  his 
councillors  had  before  them,  without  doubt,  the  Leges  Barba- 
rorum  or  the  Code  of  Charlemagne,  both  founded  on  the 
compilations  of  Justinian.  It  may  be,  therefore,  that  these 
rules  got  their  Roman  flavour  in  one  or  both  of  two  ways  : 
either  because  the  Britons  had  engrafted  Roman  law  and 
custom  on  to  their  own  system  during  the  Roman  occupation 
or  because  of  a  too  faithful  copying  of  the  Roman  or  barbarian 
codes  by  the  scribes  who  at  Howel's  instigation  compiled 
these  Welsh  laws.  Which  is  the  right  alternative  we  are 
quite  unable  to  determine.  It  appears  to  be  a  matter  for 
individual  opinion.  Certain  rules  relating  to  easements  are 
so  well  developed  and  so  near  the  Roman  model  that  they 
rather  suggest  copying.  In  one  important  matter,  however, 
we  find  Howel  refusing  to  follow  the  system  of  Italy.  He 
expressly  stated  that  the  illegitimate  son  should  be  entitled 
to  succeed  on  intestacy.  Truly  a  most  ancient  rule,  pointing 
back  to  the  old  system  of  a  matriarchal  state,  where  men 
traced  their  family  through  females.1 

As  we  have  said,  no  one  but  a  countryman  or  compatriot 
could  hold  land  within  the  gwely.  The  question  thus  arises : 

1  The  Welsh  rules  relating  to  inheritance,  birthright,  fosterage,  and  the 
relationship  between  father  and  son  have  the  most  direct  effect  upon  Welsh 
history.  If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  which  resulted  in  the  weak- 
ness of  the  Principality,  it  is  certainly  the  fact  that  on  the  death  of  a  prince 
or  chief  his  territory  was  divided  up  among  all  his  sons.  This  was  a  weakness, 
tending  as  it  did  to  decentralization.  The  system  might  have  worked  with 
tolerable  success  had  brothers  in  Wales  regarded  one  another  as  friends  and 
near  relatives.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  bond  between  brothers  was 
of  the  weakest  description.  Born  possibly  of  different  mothers,  some  legiti- 
mate, others,  according  to  modern  views,  illegitimate,  their  sole  tie  was  their 
common  father.  As  soon  as  infancy  was  left  behind  they  passed  from  their 
father's  house  or  palace  into  the  family  of  a  foster-parent.  This  foster- 
parent  always  attempted  to  advance  his  own  foster-children,  so  that  foster- 
brothers  were  much  nearer  in  interest  and  friendship  than  brothers  were. 
On  a  prince's  death,  as  has  been  said,  his  territory  was  divided  among  his 
sons.  These  sons  would  enter  upon  their  inheritance  as  strangers  to  one 
another,  having  quite  diverse  interests  and  under  the  control,  to  some  extent, 
of  their  foster-parents,  who  would  probably  in  many  cases  seek  to  advance 
their  own  and  their  pupil's  interest  by  setting  brother  against  brother.  That 
this  peculiar  system  had  an  immense  influence  on  Welsh  history  will,  we 
believe,  be  evident  to  the  reader  when  the  later  chapters  of  this  book  have 
been  perused. 

105 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Was  it  possible  for  a  stranger  ever  to  become  a  Cymro  ?  The 
answer,  paradoxical  though  it  may  seem,  is  Yes  and  No  ! 
No  stranger  could  by  his  own  unaided  effort  become  a  Cymro, 
except  by  saving  the  life  of  a  Cymro,  or  by  avenging  his  death, 
or  by  waging  combat  for  him.  But,  though  an  individual 
stranger  could  not  become  of  the  kin  of  a  Cymric  tribe,  a 
stranger  tribe  could  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  Cymric  tribe— 
but  only  by  a  residence  in  Cymru  for  nine  successive  genera- 
tions or  by  intermarriage  with  Cymraeses  generation  after 
generation  for  four  generations.  If  a  Cymraes  married  a 
stranger,  her  children  were  strangers  and  suffered  the  usual 
disabilities  attaching  to  those  who  could  not  claim  kinship 
with  a  Cymric  tribe — viz.  their  evidence  would  not  be  admissible 
against  a  countryman,  they  would  not  be  allowed  to  bear 
arms  or  to  indulge  in  horsemanship  or  hunting,  and  they  would 
be  ineligible  for  the  honourable  professions  of  bard,  scholar,  or 
smith. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  possible  for  a  Cymro  to  lose  his 
kinship.  Thus  a  traitor  to  his  kindred  was  declared  a  kin- 
broken  man  and  was  banished  from  Cymru.  When  such  a 
sentence  was  decreed  we  are  told  that  it  was  required  of  every 
one  of  either  sex  and  every  age  within  hearing  of  the  horn  to 
follow  the  exile  and  to  keep  up  the  barking  of  dogs  to  the  time 
of  his  putting  to  sea,  and  until  he  should  have  passed  three- 
score hours  out  of  sight.  Truly  a  form  of  procedure  calculated 
to  impress  upon  the  traitor  a  sense  of  the  utter  detestation 
in  which  his  one-time  kindred  now  held  him. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  TRIBE 

As  to  the  internal  organization  of  the  tribe,  each  tribe  seems 
to  have  recognized  three  leaders  :  (i)  the  chief,  who  apparently 
represented  the  kin  in  the  councils  of  the  court  and  possibly 
acted  as  judge  in  the  tribal  court ;  (2)  the  avenger,  who  led 
the  tribe  in  battle,  and  whose  duty  it  was  to  punish  wrong- 
doers ;  (3)  the  representative,  who  seems  to  have  been  the 
ambassador  of  the  tribe  in  all  dealings  with  foreign  tribes 
or  powers.  We  have  a  feeling,  however,  that  this  threefold 
1 06 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

division  of  power  owes  itself  rather  to  the  Celtic  love  of  groups 
of  three  and  seven  than  to  the  fact  that  there  were  three  such 
chiefs.  Anyone  acquainted  with  the  Brehon  law  tracts  will 
remember  how  frequently  one  finds  forced  triplets,  as  in  the 
passage  in  the  Senchus  Mor :  "  There  are  three  periods  at 
which  the  world  dies,  the  period  of  plague,  of  a  general  war, 
of  the  dissolution  of  verbal  agreements."  x  These  groups  of 
three  should  not,  we  think,  be  too  much  relied  upon.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  the  chief  who  led  the  tribe  in  council 
was  distinct  from  the  chief  who  commanded  in  time  of  war. 
We  are  told  that  the  former  was  the  oldest  efficient  man  in  the 
kin  to  the  ninth  degree.  It  is  evident  that  a  more  active 
leader  would  be  required  hi  wartime. 

The  outward  sign  of  membership  of  a  tribe  was  the  tonsure. 
Perhaps  the  reader  will  remember  that  in  the  story  of  Kilhwch 
and  Olwen,  Kilhwch,  when  asked  by  Arthur  what  boon  he 
would  like,  replied,  "  I  would  that  thou  bless  my  hair,"  where- 
upon Arthur  took  a  golden  comb  and  scissors.  Doubtless 
Kilhwch's  request  was  construed  as  a  request  to  be  admitted 
as  one  of  Arthur's  tribe — as,  in  fact,  Arthur's  man  and  kinsman. 

We  now  pass  from  our  outline  treatment  of  the  Welsh 
tribal  system  to  a  consideration  of  the  daily  life  of  the  Welsh. 
Before  doing  so,  however,  it  will  be  convenient  to  say  some- 
thing about  the  territorial,  political,  and  social  divisions  which 
existed. 

POLITICAL  DIVISIONS 

Wales  itself,  roughly  speaking,  was  divided  into  three  chief 
kingdoms,  Gwynedd,  Powys,  Deheubarth.  Each  of  these 
kingdoms  (including  Anglesey,  or  Mon,  which  was  part  of 
Gwynedd)  was  divided  into  so  many  honours,  and  each  honour 
into  cantrefs,  the  cantrefs  being  subdivided  into  commots  or 
cymwds.  Thus  Gwynedd  was  divided  into  what  we  may 
term  the  honours  (an  inelegancy,  since  this  is  a  term  of  art 
foreign  to  Cymru)  Mon  (Anglesey),  Arvon,  Meirionydd,  and 
Y  Berfeddwlad  (Inner  Country).  Mon  in  turn  was  divided 

1  Senchus  Mor  (Rolls  Series),  vol.  i,  p.  51. 

107 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

into  the  cantrefs  of  Aberffraw,  Cemais,  Rossyr.  Aberffraw  was 
bisected  into  the  cymwds  lyleyn  and  Malltraeth.  The  cymwd 
(cymmwd)  was  the  unit  of  government.  Each  cymwd  and  can- 
tref  had  an  organization  separate  from  those  of  its  neighbours. 
It  is  probable  that  rulership  of  the  cantref  was  given  by  the  king 
or  prince  of  Gwynedd,  Powys,  or  Deheubarth,  as  the  case  might 
be,  to  some  important  tribal  person,  who  thereupon  became  lord 
of  the  cantref.  Sometimes  we  find  several  cantrefs  under  one 
man,  who  generally  styles  himself  prince  or  king.  Thus  Merion, 
grandson  of  Cunedda,  got  as  his  share  of  the  plunder  of  the 
Scots  of  North  Wales  the  division  of  land  which  later  became 
the  honour  or  county  of  Meirionydd.  In  the  normal  case, 
however,  it  is  probable  that  there  was  no  intermediate  between 
the  chief  of  a  cantref  and  the  king  or  prince.  This  chief  in 
turn  appointed  officers  to  carry  out  the  executive  duties  of 
government  in  each  cymwd.  Thus  we  find  in  each  cymwd 
certain  persons  such  as  the  maer  and  canghellor,  with  definite 
duties.  Bach  cymwd  also  had  a  court,  presided  over  by  a 
judge,  probably  chosen  for  his  wisdom.  Side  by  side  with 
these  political  or  governmental  divisions  it  is  necessary  to 
remember  that  the  tribal  divisions  existed.  As  in  Rome,  a  son 
might  have  jurisdiction  over  his  father  in  the  public  court  of  the 
cymwd,  while  his  father  was  judge  over  him  in  the  tribal  court. 

STATUS 

The  divisions  of  status  were  even  more  numerous.  In  the 
first  place  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  countrymen 
or  tribesmen,  domiciled  or  intermarried  strangers  who  were 
on  the  way  to  being  treated  as  tribesmen,  and  strangers.  The 
stranger  was  not  improbably  regarded  as  little  more  than  a 
serf  or  slave.  As  we  have  seen,  he  was  not  permitted  to  bear 
arms — a  fact  which,  if  it  stood  alone,  would  lead  us  to  believe 
that  the  non-tribesmen,  having  no  power  to  fight,  had  few  rights 
to  claim.  Even  after  a  residence  in  Cymru  for  four  generations, 
although  such  strangers  seem  to  have  been  recognized  by  the 
tribesmen  and  could  hold  land  under  the  tribal  chief,  they 
were  by  no  means  in  the  same  position  as  tribesmen.  They 
108 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

held  land,  it  is  true,  and  their  holding  was  recognized  by  the 
tribal  chief,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  mere  nativi,  persons 
bound  to  the  land  they  tilled — unable  to  leave  save  by  the 
consent  of  their  superior.  Thus  we  may  say  that  the  division 
into  tribesman  and  non-tribesman  was  equivalent  to  the 
division  free  and  unfree.  The  unfree  were  subdivided  into 
taeogau,  who  had  certain  legal  rights — e.g.  they  could  make 
binding  contracts — and  caethion,  or  pure  slaves.  These  latter 
performed  all  the  more  menial  offices. 

The  tribesmen  were  divided  into  classes  :  the  royal  class  ;  the 
noble  class,  or  uc helwyr;  the  commoners,  or  boncddigion.  Within 
the  classes  all  were  equal,  save  that,  as  we  have  seen,  the  eldest 
in  the  tribe  had  pre-eminence,  and,  further,  that  the  avenger 
and  the  representative  had  certain  special  rights  and  duties. 

Side  by  side  with  these  main  divisions  there  also  existed,  of 
course,  the  various  grades  of  professions  and  employments. 
We  may  perhaps  gather  from  the  order  of  precedence  recog- 
nized among  the  king's  household  in  what  respect  and  honour 
the  various  professions  were  held.  Thus  in  the  Venedotian 
Code  we  find  the  king's  court  formed  of  the  following  officers, 
arranged  in  the  following  order  : 

(a)  The  Chief  of  the  Household. 

(b)  The  Priest  of  the  Household. 

(c)  The  Steward. 

(d)  The  Chief  Falconer. 

(e)  The  Judge  of  the  Court. 
(/)  jThe  Chief  Groom. 

(g)  The  Page  of  the  Chamber. 

(h)  The  Bard  of  the  Household- 

(*)   The  Silentiary. 

(;')   The  {Chief  Huntsman. 

(k)  The  Mead-brewer. 

(1)  pThe  Mediciner. 

(m)  The  Butler. 

(«)  The  Doorward. 

(o)  The  Cook. 

(p)  The  Candle-bearer. 

109 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

This  list  does  not  mention  the  Smith  of  the  Court,  who  was 
an  important  person.  It  may  be  that  the  above  is  not  the 
strict  order  of  precedence.  We  have  an  account  of  the  position 
at  table  which  the  courtiers  had  to  occupy,  but  the  order  is  a 
little  difficult  to  follow  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  arrange- 
ment of  the  tables  and  screens  in  the  royal  palace.  We  may, 
however,  say  that  of  the  chief  professions  the  following  was 
the  order  :  (i)  high  executive  officers  ;  (2)  the  priest ;  (3)  the 
judge  ;  (4)  the  bard  ;  (5)  the  smith  ;  (6)  the  mediciner.  Of 
course  there  was  no  distinction  between  soldier  and  civilian, 
because  all  were  soldiers.  Each  of  these  various  persons  had 
what  we  may  term  an  '  insult  value/  or  saraad,  as  well  as  a 
life  price  (his  'worth').  Thus  if  anyone  snatched  anything 
out  of  a  queen's  hand  it  was  necessary  to  pay  her  saraadi 
The  king's  saraad  was  rather  extraordinary  and  deserves 
mention.  It  consisted  of  a  hundred  cows  for  each  cantref  ; 
a  white  bull  with  red  ears  for  every  hundred  cows ;  a  rod  of 
gold  equal  in  length  to  himself  and  as  thick  as  his  little  finger ; 
and  a  plate  of  gold  as  broad  as  his  face  and  as  thick  as  the 
nail  of  a  ploughman  who  has  been  a  ploughman  for  seven 
years.  The  saraad  of  the  Chief  of  the  Household  was  a  third 
of  the  king's  (except  the  gold)  ;  the  priest's  was  an  amount 
to  be  decided  by  the  synod  ;  the  steward's  nine  kine  and  nine 
score  of  silver  ;  the  others  down  to  the  silentiary,  six  kine  and 
six  score  of  silver. 

THE  BARD 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  important  officers  of  the 
king's  court  was  the  bard.  The  bards  occupy  a  very  singular 
position  in  ancient  Cymru.  We  read  in  Diodorus  Siculus  that 
among  the  Gauls  (a  similar  race  to  the  Cymry  of  Wales)  there 
were  composers  of  verses  called  bards.  These  sang  to  instru- 
ments similar  to  lyres.  Strabo  refers  to  the  bards  as  being 
singers  and  poets,  and  they  are  mentioned  by  many  of  the 
ancient  historians.  Probably,  indeed  almost  certainly,  the 
bards  were  connected  with  the  Druids.  Their  duties  consisted 
in  singing  for  the  amusement  or  elevation  of  their  patrons, "and 
no 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

in  recording  by  means  of  verses,  so  designed  and  so  arranged 
in  cadences  that  they  were  easily  committed  to  memory, 
national  events  desirable  to  be  known.  They  also  had  the 
recording  of  marriages  and  the  drafting  of  genealogies  com- 
mitted to  their  charge.  They  formed,  according  to  the  Triads, 
one  of  the  three  sacred  classes  whose  members  were  inviolable. 
The  harp  was  one  of  the  three  things  privileged  from  distress. 

The  court  seems  to  have  had  two  bards  in  attendance,  the 
Chaired  Bard  and  the  Bard  of  the  Household.  In  the  sixteenth- 
century  Triads  we  find  the  bardic  office  arranged  in  the  usual 
threefold  division.  First  was  the  Primitive  Bard,  whose  right 
to  be  regarded  as  a  bard  appears  to  have  depended  upon 
his  being  the  follower  or  disciple  of  a  recognized  teacher.  It 
was  this,  the  lowest  class  of  bard,  which  had  entrusted  to  it  the 
duty  of  recording  "  every  memorial  of  art  and  sciences  so  far 
as  they  might  be  in  its  department  .  .  .  and  likewise  every 
memorial  and  record  of  country  and  kindred,  in  respect  to 
marriages,  and  kins,  and  arms,  and  territorial  divisions,  and 
the  privileges  of  the  country  and  kindred  of  the  Cymry."  The 
second  class  were  the  Ovates,  who  seem  to  have  been  graduates 
in  bardism  approved  by  a  session  or  congress  of  bards.  They 
had  not  to  show  discipleship  to  another  bard.  They  seem  to 
have  been  the  teachers  of  the  arts  and  sciences.  The  last  and 
highest  class  were  the  Druid  bards.  These  seem  also  to  have 
been  teachers,  philosophers,  and  leaders  of  religion.  Too 
much  reliance  should  not,  however,  be  placed  upon  information 
contained  in  the  Triads,  for  it  is  a  sixteenth-century  forgery 
purporting  to  describe  the  customs  of  the  sixth  century.  It 
also  suffers  from  its  artificial  construction — everything  being 
grouped  into  threes,  which  manifestly  could  not  have  been  the 
case  in  fact.  It  is  therefore  a  relief  to  turn  to  the  laws  of 
Howel  Dha,  which  at  least  do  not  attempt  to  sail  under  false 
colours,  for  our  further  information  relating  to  the  bards. 

Howel's  laws  were,  as  is  perhaps  known  to  the  reader, 
drawn  up  with  the  aid  of  a  committee  selected  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Menevia,  other  bishops  and  the  chief  of  the 
clergy,  the  nobles  of  Wales,  and  six  persons  from  each  cymwd, 

ill 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

who  all  met  at  the  Y  Ty  Gwyn  ar  Dav,  or  the  White  House  on 
the  river  Taff,  which  was  near  the  site  of  Whitland  Abbey  in 
Caermarthenshire.  The  White  House  derived  its  name  from 
the  white  rods  of  which  it  was  constructed.  It  was  a  hunting 
lodge  belonging  to  Howel.  From  the  above-mentioned  persons 
Howel  selected  twelve,  and  added  as  secretary,  Blegywryd, 
Archdeacon  of  lylandaff,  and  brother  to  Morgan,  king  of 
Glamorgan,  and  to  Geraint  the  Blue  Bard,  who  was  a  poet 
and  grammarian  of  importance.  In  the  lolo  manuscripts 
we  find  the  following  description  of  Geraint :  "  The  oldest 
system  on  record  of  memorials  and  recollections  is  that  of 
Geraint  the  Blue  Bard  upon  poetic  metres,  and  of  all  that  is 
extant  from  before  his  time  there  is  nothing  remaining  except 
what  may  be  discerned  by  the  learned  by  means  of  books. 
This  Geraint  was  brother  of  Morgan  the  Aged,  King  of  Gla- 
morgan, and  he  collected  ancient  records  of  poetry  and  bardism, 
and  arranged  them  in  a  book  of  his  own  composition,  and 
established  them  by  the  laws  of  the  chair  and  Gorsedd  in 
every  country  and  dominion  in  Wales ;  and  Geraint  excelled 
in  knowledge  and  judgment,  and  every  chair  in  Wales  and 
England  was  given  to  him,  from  which  he  was  called  the  Blue 
Bard  of  the  Chair.  After  this  he  became  domestic  bard  to 
Alfred,  King  of  England,  and  he  remained  with  him,  giving 
instructions  to  the  Cymry  in  England,  and  to  the  Saxons  ; 
and  in  Winchester  he  lies  buried."  He  has  been  tentatively 
identified  with  Asser.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Asser 
completed  his  account  of  Alfred's  reign  in  888  (at  least  his 
account  ends  with  that  year).  The  laws  of  Howel  were  com- 
pleted in  their  original  form  not  later  than  914,  probably  some 
few  years  earlier.  Asser  died  in  908,  according  to  the  Annales 
Cambriae.  Possibly  the  true  date  is  910. 

With  such  bards  directly  or  indirectly  concerned  in  its 
production,  one  might  expect  to  find  some  details  concerning 
bardism  in  the  laws  themselves,  and  in  this  expectation  one  is 
not  disappointed.  We  read  that  the  Bard  of  the  Household 
had  as  special  privileges  his  land  free,  his  horse  in  attendance 
and  his  linen  from  the  queen,  his  woollen  clothing  coming 

112 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

from  the  king.  He  sat  next  to  the  chief  of  the  household  at 
the  three  principal  feasts,  and  it  was  the  chief  of  the  household 
who  placed  the  harp  in  the  bard's  hands  when  he  was  required 
to  sing.  When  songs  were  desired,  the  chaired  bard  had  to 
begin  singing,  first  a  religious  piece,  and  secondly  a  song  in 
honour  of  the  king.  After  the  chaired  bard  came  the  bard  of 
the  household,  who  sang  songs  on  various  subjects.  One 
of  the  special  privileges  of  the  chief  of  the  household  was 
that  he  could  require  the  bard  to  sing  to  him  at  any  time.  We 
find  a  delightful  touch  when  we  read  that  "  If  the  Queen  desire 
a  song,  let  the  bard  of  the  household  go  to  sing  to  her  without 
limitation,  but  in  a  low  voice,  so  that  the  hall  may  not  be 
disturbed  by  him."  1  Another  duty  of  the  bard  was  to 
celebrate  a  victory  in  song,  singing,  as  the  victors  shared  the 
spoil,  the  song  called  "  The  Monarchy  of  Britain  "  (Unbenaeth 
Prydairi) .  His  duties  were,  of  course,  quite  different  from  those 
of  the  jester,  who  was  much  lower  in  the  social  scale. 

WELSH  DRUIDISM 

As  we  have  said,  intimately  connected  with  the  bards  were 
the  Druids,  who,  if  we  follow  Diodorus  Siculus  and  Strabo, 
are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  soothsayers.  It  will,  of 
course,  be  remembered  that  the  Druids  and  their  religion  had 
long  since  been  superseded  by  Christianity.  According  to 
Suetonius,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Roman  occupation  Claudius 
had  forbidden  the  performance  of  the  Druidical  rites  under 
severe  penalties.  As  far  as  Wales  is  concerned  Druidism  had 
become  at  most  a  secret  and  fugitive  religion  by  the  end  of 
the  first  century  A.D.  In  Caledonia  it  lasted  on,  apparently, 
until  about  the  time  of  Severus — that  is  to  say,  till  some  time 
early  in  the  third  century. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Druids  there  appears  to  have  been 
no  lessening  in  the  extraordinary  veneration  in  which  those 
leaders  of  religious,  philosophical,  and  scientific  thought  had 

1  He  was  also  directed  to  sing  to  her  the  song  of  Camlan,  i.e.  Camelot.  If 
this  was  because  Camelot  was  the  result  of  a  woman's  infidelity,  and  if  this 
part  of  the  laws  was  really  of  the  tenth  century,  it  has  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  origin  of  the  Arthurian  legend. 

H  ' 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

been  held  by  the  commonalty.  Henceforth,  however,  it  was 
the  priests  of  the  new  order  who  were  looked  up  to  ;  and  they, 
in  conjunction  with  the  bards,  were  the  upholders  of  the 
torch  of  learning  in  the  dark  ages  of  Welsh  history. 

We  believe  that  many  of  the  old  Druidical  practices  and 
much  of  the  old  sun-worship  lasted  on  long  after  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Christian  religion.    Such  an  event  as  the 
interposition  of  the  monks  of  Bangor  between  the  opposing 
forces  at  Chester  reminds  one  strongly  of  Druidic  custom. 
Then,  again,  what  is  one  to  think  when  one  reads  in  1912 
of  a  young  man  being  fined  in  South  Wales  by  the  magis- 
trates for    stopping    a    bridal   procession    by    stretching   a 
piece  of  rope  across  the  road  and  demanding  tribute  ?     His 
substantial  defence   was  that  it  was   an   ancient  custom — 
similar,  indeed,  to  the  Hoke  Day  practices.     Now  it  has  been 
suggested  quite  recently,1  and  the  suggestion  is  supported  by 
a  certain   amount   of   evidence,   that  this  custom  and  the 
Hoke  Day  festival  itself  go  back  right  to  the  time  of  the 
Druids ;    right  to  the  period  when  the  sun-worshippers  were 
raising  the  circle   at  Stonehenge — far  past  the   time   when 
Caesar  landed  in  these  islands.     The  rope  stretched  across  the 
road  represents  the  cord  with  which  the  sacrificial  victim  was 
caught  and  bound.     The  sacrifice  itself  and  the  watch  to  keep 
off  evil  spirits  are  also  represented  in  modern  observances. 
These  ceremonies  took  place  in  the  spring,  and  were  not 
improbably    sacrificial    religious    rites    connected    with    the 
blessing    of    the    forthcoming    seed-time.    We    gather    from 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  that  the  Welsh  ploughed  for  oats  in 
March  and  April,  and  for  wheat  in  summer  and  winter.     Since 
Hoke  Day  falls  on  the  second  Tuesday  after  Easter,  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  agrees  roughly  with  the  Welsh  seed-time.     Of 
course  the  fixing  of  the  date  from  Easter  (Pasg)  argues  against 
a  pagan  origin,  but  it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  early 
British  Christians  did  not  take  over,  so  to  say,  the  old  pagan 
festivals   and   days  of  fasting.     It   would  even  be   difficult 
at  this  distance  of  time  and  in  the  state  of  our  authorities  to 

1  See  the  article  by  Dr.  Bellot  in  Law  Quarterly  Review,  1912. 
114 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

deny  definitely  that  the  conflict  between  the  British  Church 
and  St.  Augustine  regarding  the  fixing  of  Easter  may  not 
have  arisen  out  of  the  fact  that  the  British  day  was  based  on 
pagan  calculations. 

However  this  may  be,  the  new  religion  appears  to  have 
become  quite  early  firmly  fixed  among  the  Britons.1  By  the 
tenth  century  we  find  the  Welsh  monks,  then,  of  course,  the 
leaders  of  the  ancient  British  Church  and  still  the  opponents 
of  the  Christianity  planted  in  England  by  Augustine,  pre- 
siding over  colleges  at  I^lanrillied  and  at  Cattwg  at  which 
Saxon  gentlemen  went  to  receive  the.  polish  apparently 
unobtainable  at  that  time  (A.D.  959)  in  England.  The  result 
of  this  opening  of  the  doors  to  the  Saxon  nobility  was  unfor- 
tunate for  the  monks,  for  we  find  Owain,  son  of  Howel  Dha, 
demolishing  these  colleges  on  account  of  the  extension  of  their 
fellowship  to  Saxons. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  monastery  at  Bangor-on- 
Dee — a  monastery  containing  more  than  two  thousand  monks 
at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Chester,  a  monastery  which  acted 
as  a  centre  of  learning,  eradiating  knowledge  not  only  to 
the  eastern  part  of  this  island,  but  also  to  Ireland.  By  the 
eighth  century  at  latest  monasteries  had  been  established  at 
Basingwerk  and  Coleshill,  and  Menevia  was  the  centre  of 
St.  David's  activities  even  in  the  sixth  century. 

EVERYDAY  LIFE  OF  THE  CYMRY 

In  considering  the  everyday  life  of  the  Cymry  of  the  period 
of  the  kings,  we  will  take  the  case  of  an  average  man  who  was 
neither  a  priest  nor  bard,  smith,  carpenter,  or  mediciner. 
Such  a  man  would,  as  a  rule,  be  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits,  having  as  his  sports — if  a  freeman — war,  horseman- 
ship, and  hunting.  If  but  a  youth  he  was  taught  farming, 
especially  dairy-farming,  and  weaving.  On  coming  of  age  he 
was  given,  as  we  have  seen,  land  which  he  cultivated  for 
himself.  The  system  of  land  cultivation  was  not  dissimilar  to 

1  Certainly  not  later  than  the  fourth  century,  and  possibly  as  early  as  the 
second  century. 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  English  manorial  system,  save  that  the  grouping  of  the 
cottages  was  in  Wales  always  in  hamlets.  All  the  mere 
labourer's  work,  whether  on  the  land  or  at  the  lord's  corn-mill, 
was  done  by  persons  who  were  unfree,  the  domestic  and  menial 
duties  being  performed  by  slaves. 

The  farm  labourers,   though   unfree,  were  not   absolutely 
without  rights.     Being  unfree,  they  could  not,  of  course,  have 
any  share  in  the  tribal  lands.     It  would  seem,  however,  that, 
in  return  for  their  services,  the  lord  protected  them  from 
oppression  and  allotted  to  them  a  certain  amount  of  land 
(worked  on  the  strip  or  common  field  system),  from  which 
they  raised  the  vegetables  and  food-stuffs  with  which  to  make 
such  payments  in  kind  as  their  lord  might  demand  either  in 
exchange  for  or  in  addition  to  direct  service.    Thus  in  later 
times  we  find  villeins  working  at  their  lord's  mill  and  doing 
carriage  service  besides  paying  rent  (about  2s.  6d.  a  year)  for 
their  holdings.    They  were,  however,  relieved  from  the  payment 
of  reliefs  and  amobr  (maiden-fee).  With  regard  to  the  payments 
in  kind,  the  laws  of  Howel  mention  the  following  :  sheep, 
lambs,  kids,  hens,  cheese,  butter,  milk,  hay,  straw,  fuel.     In 
the  later  extents  we  read  of  six  tenements  rendering  jointly 
three  sheep,  six  lambs,  nine  hens,  butter,  one  hundred  eggs. 
The  value  was  fixed  at  55. 

The  distribution  of  the  manorial  estate  would  be  somewhat 
as  follows  :  In  the  centre  would  be  found  the  mansion  and 
home  farm,  and  surrounding  these,  not  improbably,  the  tribal 
lands  inhabited  by  freemen.  Outside,  perhaps  miles  away, 
would  lie  the  hamlets  of  the  villeins. 

The  villeins  were  called  to  work  by  the  porter  or  horn- 
blower.     They  ploughed  with  oxen,  according  to  Giraldus,  and, 
as  we  have  already  stated,  ploughing  was  done  in  March  and 
April  for  oats  and  in  summer  and  winter  for  wheat,  thus 
pointing  to  a  double  harvest.     As  in  Scotland  and  the  Isle  of 
Man,  the  ploughman  walked  backward  when  ploughing.    These 
farm  labourers  worked  under  the  supervision  of  a  land-maer 
Oats  formed  the  chief  crop,  though  a  large  variety  of  cereals 
and  field  produce  was  not  improbably  known  to  the  Welsh. 
116 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

In  a  most  interesting  work  dating  from  the  tenth  century, 
and  dealing  primarily  with  the  everyday  life,  habits,  diseases, 
food-stuffs,  and  cures  common  among  the  Saxons,  we  find  a 
vast  number  of  food-stuffs  and  drinks  mentioned.  We  believe 
that  the  standard  of  living  was  much  the  same  in  Wales  at  a 
similar  period  and  in  times  of  comparative  peace.  Since  this 
work  throws  some  extremely  interesting  sidelights  on  the 
everyday  life  of  the  people  of  those  times  we  purpose  to  make 
some  mention  of  it. 

We  are  told  that  at  banquets  gleemen  were  generally  in 
attendance  to  render  songs  appropriate  to  the  occasion.     At 
great  feasts  the  dishes  were  of  silver  and  the  drinking-vessels 
were  of  glass.     Glass  had,  of  course, 
been  manufactured  in  England  long 
before  the  departure  of  the  Romans, 
and  the  site  of  one  of  the  most 

important  factories  has  been  dis- 

,        ,   P      f          ,11       i         r       DRAWING  OF  A  PLOUGH  IN 
covered  not  far  from  the  border  of         UANSWSPHEN  MS.  116 

North  Wales.     These  glass  vessels 

were  sometimes  transparent,  sometimes  opaque.  Salt  was 
largely  used,  being  brought  from  Cheshire  and  Worcestershire, 
where  there  were  brine  evaporation  furnaces.  The  drinks  used 
at  that  time  were  beer,  ale,  double  brewed  ale  (containing  malt 
and  sometimes  hops),  mead  (a sweet  intoxicating  drink) ,  wines, 
and  certain  others  of  a  special  kind — e.g.  hydromel,  and  '  the 
southern  acid  drink '  called  oxymel,  made  from  vinegar, 
honey,  and  water,  and  regarded  as  a  cure  for  the  '  half -dead  ' 
disease  and  epilepsy.  The  fruits  grown  were  sweet  apples, 
pears,  peaches,  medlars,  plums,  and  cherries.  Several  of  these, 
without  doubt,  had  been  introduced  by  the  Romans — sweet 
apples,  for  example.1 

As  to  the  food-stuffs,  it  would  be  wearisome  to  recount  all 
the  various  delicacies  open  to  the  gourmet  of  A.D.  1000.  We 
will  content  ourselves  with  mentioning  that  the  Cymry  were 

1  As  to  ordinary  trees,  we  find  mentioned  the  oak,  beech,  birch,  hawthorn, 
sloe-thorn,  elm,  maple,  holly,  and  walnut.  The  last-mentioned  was  an 
imported  tree ;  the  others  were  probably  indigenous. 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

acquainted  with  oyster  patties  and  they  stuffed  their  fowls  with 
bread  and  parsley.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  invalids  had 
special  dietaries  allowed  them.  Thus  we  find  the  following 
mentioned  as  suitable  for  a  sick  man  :  chickens,  giblets,  pigs' 
trotters,  eggs,  broth,  milk  dishes,  junkets.  We  also  have 
preserved  to  us  the  daily  allowance  of  a  boy  while  being 
educated  at  a  monastery.  This  youth  was  comparatively 
poor,  since  we  are  told  that  he  drank  ale  or  water  because  he 
could  not  afford  wine.  Among  eatables  he  had  the  following 
choice  :  herbs,  fish,  cheese,  butter,  beans,  and  flesh  meats. 
Doubtless  we  should  add  bread.1 

DOMESTIC  ARCHITECTURE 

As  to  the  domestic  appointments,  Seebohm,  working, 
doubtless,  on  the  authority  of  Howel's  laws  and  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  has  described  the  Welsh  house  as  follows :  "  The 
tribal  house  was  built  of  trees  newly  cut  from  the  forest.  A 
long  straight  pole  is  selected  for  the  roof -tree.  Six  well-grown 
trees  with  suitable  branches,  apparently  reaching  over  to 
meet  one  another,  and  of  about  the  same  size  as  the  roof-tree, 
are  stuck  upright  in  the  ground  at  even  distances  in  two 
parallel  rows,  three  in  each  row.  Their  extremities  bending 
over  make  a  Gothic  arch,  and  crossing  one  another  at  the  top 
each  pair  makes  a  fork,  upon  which  the  roof -tree  is  fixed. 
These  trees  supporting  the  roof -tree  are  called  gavaels  [?  gavl], 
forks,  or  columns,  and  they  form  the  nave  of  the  tribal  house. 
Then,  at  some  distance  back  from  these  rows  of  columns  or 
forks,  low  walls  of  stakes  and  wattle  shut  in  the  aisles  of  the 
house,  and  over  all  is  the  roof  of  branches  and  rough  thatch, 
while  at  the  aisles  behind  the  pillars  are  placed  beds  of  rushes, 
called  gwelyau  (lecti),  on  which  the  inmates  sleep.  The  foot- 
boards of  the  beds  between  the  columns  form  their  seats  in 
the  daytime.  The  fire  is  lighted  on  an  open  hearth  in  the 
centre  of  the  nave  between  the  two  middle  columns." 

If  this  be  an  accurate  description  of  an  average  Welsh  tribal 

1  The  Welsh  did  not,  however,  eat  much  bread.  Their  diet  consisted 
mainly  of  meat  and  milk  and  milk  products. 

118 


'i.         1 

I 

v 


—  $ 


p  >. 


W 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

house,  then  we  must  confess  that  the  Britons  carried  with 
them  in  their  flight  to  Wales  very  little  of  the  knowledge 
relating  to  domestic  architecture  which  they  must  have 
possessed  in  some  degree  after  so  many  centuries  of  Roman 
rule.  That  this  description  is  correct  we  have  no  reason  to 
doubt.  Indeed,  even  the  better  sort  of  houses  would  seem  to 
have  been  fashioned  in  similar  manner.  The  reader  will 
probably  remember  that  the  White  House  at  which  Howel's 
laws  were  compiled  was  a  king's  hunting-box  built  of  white 
wattles.  It  is  odd  if  the  early  Welsh  were  less  cultivated  and 
luxurious  than  the  Saxons,  yet  the  Saxons  had  feather  beds, 
with  bolsters  and  pillows.1 

Small  houses  were  not  even  as  elaborate  as  the  rude  con- 
struction mentioned  above.  They  were  simple  wattle  and 
wood  buildings,  circular  in  shape,  with  the  fireplace  in  the 
centre  and  beds  of  rushes  all  around.  The  occupants  slept 
as  soldiers  do  to-day  in  tents — with  their  feet  to  the  centre. 
Such  buildings  were  probably  inhabited  by  the  taeogau. 

CURES  AND  CUNNING 

As  we  have  already  seen,  medicine  was  a  special  profession. 
The  mediciners  were  not  improbably  acquainted  with  the 
Greek  and  Roman  authorities  on  surgery  and  physic.  That 
the  Saxons  were  possessed  of  such  knowledge  is  certain,  and 
it  is  almost  inconceivable  that  the  Britons  should  not  have 
been.  Most  of  the  remedies  we  read  of  were  herbal.  Surgery 
seems  to  have  been  in  its  infancy.  Some  of  the  cures  are 
based  on  charms  or  magic.  Thus  we  find  that  the  following 
was  regarded  as  a  cure  for  a  fever  :  "  Take  the  right  foot 
shank  of  a  black  dead  hound,  hang  it  on  the  arm ;  it 
shaketh  off  the  fever."  We  have  also  an  interesting  charm 
given  for  catching  a  swarm  of  bees.  The  method  was  as 
follows : 

"  Take  some  earth,  throw  it  with  thy  right  hand  under  thy 
right  foot  and  say, '  I  take  under  foot,  I  am  trying  what  earth 

1  Columba,  writing  to  Rhydderch  in  the  sixth  century,  foretold  that  he 
would  die  in  bed  "  on  his  couch  of  feathers." 

119 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

avails  for  everything  in  the  world,  and  against  spite  and 
against  malice,  and  against  the  mickle  tongue  of  man,  and 
against  displeasure/  Throw  over  them  some  gravel  where 
they  swarm  and  say  : 

"  '  Sit  ye,  my  ladies,  sink, 
Sink  ye  to  earth  down  ; 
Never  be  so  wild 
As  to  the  wood  to  fly. 
Be  ye  as  mindful  of  my  good  as  every  man  is  of  meat  and  estate.'  " 

A  great  number  of  these  cures  reflect  the  immense  amount 
of  superstitions  which  were  current  throughout  Britain  in 
those  ages.  Since  our  authority  is  not  Cymric,  it  would  be 
undesirable  to  do  more  than  merely  mention  the  kind  of  fears 
that  seem  to  have  harassed  the  people.  We  find  a  recipe  for 
a  drink  "  against  a  devil  and  dementedness,"  and  we  have  a 
cure  in  a  case  where  the  patient  has  been  overlooked  by  the 
evil  eye.  Klf-sickness  in  one  form  or  another  seems  to  have 
been  very  common,  and  dreams  and  nightmares  were  the 
subjects  of  much  study.  In  such  a  state  of  society  it  is 
perhaps  superfluous  to  add  that  the  love-philtre  and  its 
converse,  the  knot,  were  commonly  sought  after. 

We  find  an  interesting  cure  for  '  doing  away  a  dwarf.' 
Thus  we  read :  "To  do  away  a  dwarf,  give  to  the  troubled 
man  to  eat  thost  of  a  white  hound  pounded  to  dust  and  mingled 
with  meal  and  baked  to  a  cake  ere  the  hour  of  the  dwarf's 
arrival,  whether  by  day  or  by  night  it  be  ;  his  access  is  terribly 
strong,  and  after  that  it  diminisheth  and  departeth  away." 

VALUATIONS 

In  the  laws  of  Howel  Dha  we  have  reference  to  a  vast 
number  of  articles  used  by  the  people  of  those  times,  the  reason 
being  that  with  the  Welsh  everything  had  an  appropriate 
price  or  value,  so  that  if  a  thing  were  injured  or  if  the  household 
goods  had  to  be  divided — e.g.  between  husband  and  wife  on 
separation — the  exact  value  of  each  thing  was  known.  The 
Venedotian  Code  alone  gives  a  list  of  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  articles  whose  value  had  been  appraised.  It  is 
therefore  obvious  that  we  cannot  give  an  account  of  these 
120 


PLATE  XXVI.     CELTIC  CROSS  IN  LLANBADARN  FA\VR  CHURCHYARD 


PRE-NORMAN    WALES 

chattels  in  detail.  Most  of  the  things  are  either  clothing, 
articles  of  the  chase,  furniture,  or  instruments  of  husbandry, 
agriculture,  carpentry,  or  smithcraft.  The  harp  and  its 
tuning-key  are  very  prominent.  The  harp  was  evidently 
regarded  as  of  great  value,  a  king's  harp  being  priced  at  six 
score  pence,  while  a  willow  pail  was  only  worth  one  penny.  An 
iron  spade  was  likewise  worth  one  penny ;  a  chicken  was 
valued  at  one  farthing.  One  of  the  most  valuable  things  was 
the  buffalo  horn  out  of  which  certain  highly  placed  persons 
were  permitted  to  drink.  These  buffalo  horns  were  valued  at 
a  pound,  or  the  value  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  battle-axes  or 
sixty  gilded  spurs.  Plaids,  pillows,  and  cauldrons  were  also 
set  high  in  the  list  of  values,  a  pillow,  probably  of  feathers, 
being  priced  at  exactly  the  same  amount  as  a  weaver's  loom, 
viz.  at  twenty-four  pence. 

Many  of  the  things  which  appear  in  this  list  were  much 
later  in  date  than  Howel's  time,  and  are  probably  later  than 
the  modifications  introduced  by  Bleddyn  in  or  about  1080. 
Perhaps  we  may  trace  them  to  David,  son  of  Owain  Gwynedd. 
Whatever  may  be  their  exact  date,  such  articles  as  hauberks 
and  basnets  look  like  Norman  innovations.  It  is  of  some 
interest  to  note  that  the  Welsh  had  not  lost  their  ancient  art 
of  enamelling,  for  we  find  an  ordinary  shield  valued  at  eight 
pence,  but  if  it  were  enamelled  blue  or  gold  this  value  increased 
to  twenty-four  pence. 

Clothes  were,  as  prices  went  in  those  days,  rather  expensive. 
A  shirt  and  trousers  were  valued  at  twenty-four  pence,  and  a 
royal  robe  at  one  pound,  a  noble's  robe  being  priced  somewhat 
less.  No  one  else  seems  to  have  been  allowed  to  wear  a  robe, 
but  mantles  were  fairly  common,  any  one  who  could  afford  the 
twenty-four  pence  necessary  to  pay  for  it  being  allowed  to 
wear  one.  Caps  were  extraordinarily  expensive,  for  a  cap 
cost  as  much  as  a  mantle.  A  bonnet,  on  the  other  hand,  cost 
but  one  legal  penny.  Truly  the  times  have  altered  ! 

Besides  chattels,  other  things  had  a  price  set  upon  them. 
Thus  every  part  of  the  human  body  was  duly  valued,  so  that 
in  case  of  injury  the  person  wronged  should  know  exactly  how 

121 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

much  to  claim  from  the  wrongdoer.  A  typical  Welsh  touch 
(for  Welshmen  were  always  great  talkers)  is  found  in  the  value 
assigned  to  the  tongue,  for  we  read  that  "  The  worth  of  the 
tongue  itself  is  equal  to  the  worth  of  all  the  other  members, 
because  it  defends  itself." 

From  what  we  have  already  said  it  will  be  evident  to  the 
reader  that  the  ancient  laws  of  Wales  contain  some  very 
curious  and  interesting  rules.  With  the  legal  aspect  of  these 
laws  we  have  not  been  concerned  in  this  present  chapter.  In 
the  chapter  following,  however,  we  shall  consider  some  of  the 
more  important  laws  and  customs  of  the  Welsh. 


122 


CHAPTER  VIII 
WELSH  LAWS  AND  CUSTOMS 

IN  the  previous  chapter  we  touched  on   certain  parts  of 
the   Welsh  laws   which   referred   more    particularly    to 
the  social  condition  of  the  Welsh.     We  propose  now  to 
consider  in  rather  more  detail  such  parts  of  these  codes  as 
may  be  of  interest  to  the  general  reader. 

Although  these  laws  are  reputed  to  have  been  compiled  by 
Howel  Dha,  the  form  in  which  we  have  them  contains  additions 
by  subsequent  princes.  Thus  Bleddyn,  Prince  of  Powys,  made 
extensive  changes  in  the  Venedotian  Code  toward  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century.  We  know,  for  instance,  that  he  altered 
the  amounts  of  land  assigned  to  the  persons  entitled  on  the 
various  divisions  among  heirs.  He  also  remodelled  the  rules 
relating  to  the  restitution  to  be  made  by  a  thief,  requiring  full 
satisfaction  instead  of  the  fines  obtaining  in  the  time  of  Howel. 

Gruffydd  ap  Cynan,  a  still  later  Prince  of  Gwynedd,  also 
made  some  changes  reforming  the  rules  regulating  bards  and 
minstrels.  His  son,  not  improbably,  made  still  further 
additions. 

Again,  about  the  same  time  we  find  Rhys,  Prince  of 
Deheubarth,  while  making  certain  changes  in  the  Welsh 
laws,  falling  into  line  with  Henry  II's  judicial  system.  Owain 
Gwynedd  carried  the  pro-Norman  movement  still  farther. 
Welsh  law  continued,  however,  to  be  the  law  applicable  in 
Wales  until  the  time  of  Edward  I.  The  Statute  of  Rhuddlan 
was  then  passed,  which,  while  preserving  certain  Welsh 
characteristics,  in  effect  brought  Wales  within  the  English 
system.  Some  of  these  peculiarities  linger  even  yet,  but  most 
of  them  were  abolished  by  the  Welshman  Henry  VIII. 

123 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

We  must  now  turn  back  and  remind  the  reader  that  we  are 
concerned  with  Wales  of  the  tenth  century  or  earlier.  The 
first  group  of  laws  with  which  we  propose  to  deal  are  the  rules 
relating  to  women. 

One  of  the  things  which  strike  one  most  forcibly  when 
reading  this  part  of  the  Welsh  codes  is,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
fairness  of  the  laws  to  women,  and,  on  the  other,  the  laxness 
of  morals.  The  times  were,  of  course,  rough  and  rude,  and 
the  Welsh  were  certainly  no  worse  as  regards  morals  than 
the  Norse.  But  it  strikes  one  as  strange  to  pass  from  a 
rubric  full  of  good  sense,  good  law,  and  enlightenment  to  a  rule 
so  coarse  in  intent  and  phrasing  that  a  learned  editor  and 
translator  of  the  codes  found  it  desirable  to  clothe  such  passages 
in  the  lyatin  tongue 

THE  POSITION  OF  WOMEN 

As  we  have  said,  the  attitude  of  the  Welsh  to  their  women- 
kind  was  extremely  fair.  Perhaps  this  may  have  been  due  to 
a  remembrance  of  the  old  matriarchal  state,  which  Sir  John 
Rhys  thinks  may  have  existed  in  very  early  times.  However 
this  may  be,  we  find  girls  and  boys  and  women  and  men  equally 
treated,  in  the  main.  Until  the  young  Cymraes  was  twelve 
years  of  age  she  was  maintained  by  her  father  even  as  children 
are  to-day.  When  she  had  attained  that  age  she  was  deemed 
a  woman,  and  her  position  was  very  different.  She  then 
became  entitled  to  her  share  in  the  personal  property  of  the 
kin.  Her  father  was  no  longer  bound  to  maintain  her.  As 
the  Welsh  laws  put  it,  "  Every  woman  is  to  go  the  way  she 
willeth,  freely,  for  she  is  not  to  be  revenant ;  and  nothing  is 
due  from  her  except  her  maiden-fee." 

This  mention  of  the  maiden-fee  refers  to  a  fine  which  was 
payable  to  the  chief  man  whenever  a  Cymraes  became  a  woman 
in  the  fuller  sense  either  by  marriage  or  otherwise.  So  free 
was  the  young  Cymraes  that,  having  attained  the  age  of 
twelve,  she  was  free  to  give  herself  in  marriage,  in  which  case 
she  had  to  pay  the  maiden-fee.  In  the  normal  case  doubtless 
the  father  maintained  his  daughters  for  years  after  they 
124 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

attained  supposed  womanhood,  and  until  marriage,  in  which 
case,  if  he  gave  his  daughter  away,  he  was  liable  to  pay  the 
maiden-fee. 

We  have  no  very  full  account  of  the  Welsh  marriage.  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  difference  between  an  '  espoused  wife ' 
and  a  '  wife.'  Reading  between  the  lines  it  would  appear  that 
the  formal  way  to  marry  was  by  plight  of  faith  together  with 
a  church  ceremony.  But  any  action  showing  intention  to  live 
together  was  sufficient  to  warrant  the  title  '  wife.'  The  central 
fact  was  the  taking  home  of  the  woman  by  the  man — the 
deductio  in  domum  of  the  Romans — together  with  cohabitation. 
Whether  they  practised  the  pretty  customs  with  garlands  and 
roses  which  the  Romans  used  we  do  not  know. 

The  same  freedom  which  was  the  woman's  before  marriage 
continued  afterward.  She  could  leave  her  husband  at  any 
time.  He  could  leave  her  at  any  time.  Subsequent  marriage 
operated  as  a  divorce. 

On  a  woman  marrying  she  took  certain  property  to  her 
husband  as  dower.  This  dower  was  to  be  hers  "  unto  the  end 
of  the  seventh  year,  and  if  there  be  three  nights  wanting  of 
the  seventh  year  and  they  separate,  let  them  share  into  two 
portions  everything  belonging  to  them." 

The  rules  relating  to  the  sharing  of  the  property  are  given 
very  fully  in  the  Venedotian  Code  (which  we  are  at  present 
relying  upon).  The  law  stated  with  great  particularity  what 
things  were  to  go  to  the  husband  and  what  to  the  wife.  Where 
the  law  did  not  apply  the  husband  had  first  choice,  but  apart 
from  that  they  shared  equally. 

If  they  had  sheep  and  goats  the  husband  was  given  the 
sheep,  the  wife  the  goats.  This  was  unfair  to  the  wife,  of 
course.  The  children  were  divided  up  in  a  similar  manner — 
not  into  sheep  and  goats,  but  according  to  numbers  and  ages. 
The  husband  took  two  out  of  three.  He  had  the  oldest  and 
the  youngest.  The  wife  took  the  middlemost.  To  the  wife 
went  all  the  milking-vessels  except  one  pail,  all  the  dishes 
except  one  dish ;  the  car  and  yoke  to  convey  her  furniture 
from  the  house.  She  also  took  the  lower  stone  of  the  quern, 

125 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  husband  having  the  upper  stone.  She  had  the  bed- 
clothes over  them,  he  the  bedclothes  under  them,  but  if  he 
married  again  these  went  to  his  earlier  wife,  unless  he  cared  to 
pay  a  fine.  The  wife  also  took  the  pan,  trivet,  broad  axe, 
hedge-bill,  ploughshare,  all  the  flax,  the  linseed,  the  wool,  the 
money-bag  with  its  copper  contents  (gold  and  silver  were 
divided).  The  food-stuffs  were  divided.  Of  personal  clothes 
they  kept  their  own  except  mantles,  which  were  to  be  shared. 
In  another  part  of  the  Welsh  laws  we  find  a  delightful  distinc- 
tion made  between  a  "  town-made  mantle  "  and  "  every  home- 
made covering."  The  mantles  were,  as  we  have  seen,  regarded 
as  valuable.  As  to  the  debts,  each  had  to  pay  them  in  equal 
shares. 

To  mention  the  various  things  allocated  to  the  husband 
would  be  to  draw  out  the  list  to  a  tedious  length.  Appro- 
priately enough  he  was  to  take  all  the  drinking-vessels.  He 
also  took  all  the  corn,  all  the  poultry,  and  one  of  the  cats. 
The  cat  held  a  very  special  place  in  the  Welsh  household.1 
When  we  turn  to  the  Welsh  law  of  sale  we  find  a  special 
warranty,  in  the  case  of  the  sale  of  the  cat,  against  any  pro- 
pensity to  caterwauling.  The  cat  was  regarded  as  quite  a 
valuable  animal,  and  a  number  appear  to  have  been  kept  in 
every  Welsh  household. 

On  separation  before  the  seventh  year  the  wife  also  received 
back  her  dower  (three  pounds  in  the  normal  case),  her  parapher- 
nalia, and  her  cowyll  (one  pound  in  the  case  of  the  ordinary 
person),  and  all  presents  made  to  her  before  marriage.  If  the 
wife  left  her  husband  without  good  reason  she  could  only 
claim  her  cowyll ,  but  if  her  husband  subsequently  married,  he 
had  to  pay  her  a  sum  of  money.  If  the  wife  was,  while  yet 
living  with  her  husband,  guilty  of  lightness,  even  of  covertly 
kissing  another  man,  her  husband  could  repudiate  her  and  she 
forfeited  all  her  property  rights.  A  woman  could  leave  her 
husband  and  still  claim  her  property  in  full  for  three  causes 

1  This,  we  suspect,  comes  from  their  Semitic  ancestors.  The  cat  was,  of 
course,  sacred  in  Egypt,  and  mummified  cats  may  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum. 

126 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

only.  Two  we  will  pass  over,  the  third,  leprosy,  reminds  us 
of  the  ravages  which  that  dreaded  disease  made  throughout 
England  and  Wales  in  those  times.  We  have  many  memorials 
of  the  extent  of  its  hold ,  The  leper- holes 1  in  many  old  churches 
speak  of  it.  The  frequent  mention  of  the  disabilities  of  lepers 
to  contract  tell  of  it,  and  of  the  banishment  of  these  unhappy 
folk  from  the  haunts  of  men.  It  is  to  the  honour  of  women 
that  we  can  say  that  examples  are  known  of  women  following 
their  husbands  into  their  dreadful  retreats  when  hopeless 
victims  of  this  scourge,  rather  than  forsake  them,  as,  by  law, 
they  were  entitled  to  do. 

On  the  death  of  the  husband  we  read  that  the  wife  was  "  to 
have  everything  in  two  portions "  except  the  corn.  This 
she  had  only  if  an  '  espoused '  wife.  We  understand  by  an 
'  espoused '  wife  one  who  was  married  in  a  formal  way.  When- 
ever a  woman  and  a  man  lived  together  she  obtained  certain 
rights.  If  the  cohabitation  was  of  any  duration  she  came  to 
be  looked  upon  as  a  wife.  It  may  be  remembered  that  the 
Romans  made  a  similar  distinction  between  materfamilias  and 
uxor,  though  probably  this  has  no  connexion  with  the  Welsh 
division. 

The  husband  could  not  defeat  his  wife's  right  of  succession 
by  leaving  his  property  away  from  her.  He  could,  however, 
bequeath  the  mortuary  fees,2  and  the  fine  payable  to  his  lord, 
and  money  to  pay  all  his  debts. 

The  Venedotian  Code  contains  an  interesting  rule  stating 
the  three  things  for  which  a  man  might  beat  his  wife.  We 
will  spare  the  reader  mention  of  the  first  two.  The  third 
reason  was  giving  anything  away  which  she  might  not  give. 
This  introduces  a  long  list  of  things  which  she  might  donate. 
The  wife  of  a  taeog,  or  villein,  could  give  but  few  things. 
The  laws  only  mention  her  headgear  and  the  sieve.  The  sieve 
is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Welsh  laws.  It  was  one  of 
the  things  specially  given  to  the  wife  on  separation,  the 

1  It  has  been  doubted  whether  many  so-called  leper-holes  had  anything  to 
do  with  lepers.     At  least  one  Saxon  bishop  was  a  leper. 

2  For  church  rites,  blessings,  prayers,  etc. 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

husband  taking  the  riddle.  The  taeog's  wife  could  only 
lend  the  sieve  "  as  far  as  her  voice  can  be  heard  .  .  .  request- 
ing its  return."  The  wife  of  a  uchelwr,  or  chief,  could, 
however,  give  away  quite  a  number  of  things,  and  could  lend 
all  the  furniture  without  legally  being  liable  to  be  beaten. 

Before  we  pass  from  the  law  relating  to  women  we  must 
remind  the  reader  that  the  woman  with  separate  property 
of  her  own  could  buy  and  sell  and  make  herself  liable  for  her 
debts.  If  she  were  married  she  could  not  sell  without  the 
consent  of  her  husband  unless  she  was  possessed  of  separate 
property.  This,  we  take  it,  refers  to  the  dower.  The  dower 
normally  went  to  the  husband  and  wife  as  goods  in  com- 
mon, so  to  say.  The  giver  of  the  dower  could,  however,  as 
we  have  seen,  declare  a  separation  of  goods  at  the  time  of 
marriage,  in  which  case  we  assume  that  the  separated  property 
would  be  deemed  the  wife's. 

There  were  elaborate  rules  relating  to  fines  payable  if  a 
woman  were  insulted  or  disgraced.  The  fine  was  generally 
regulated  according  to  the  position  of  her  husband,  if  she  had 
one,  otherwise  according  to  that  of  her  eldest  brother. 

ANCIENT  LAWS  OF  WALES 

We  hesitate  to  go  into  any  detail  with  regard  to  legal  rules 
and  observances.  I^aw  is  a  dull  subject  to  the  general  reader. 
Moreover,  it  is  hopeless  in  the  space  at  our  disposal  to  make 
clear  many  legal  rules  to  anyone  unacquainted  with  the 
subject.  We  propose,  however,  to  touch  on  one  or  two 
points  which  throw  into  prominence  certain  peculiarities  of 
the  average  Welshman  of  that  age. 

Everything  could  be  paid  for  in  money.  That  is  the  out- 
standing fact  in  early  Welsh  and  Saxon  law.  From  murder 
downward  everything  had  its  appropriate  fine  price,  varying 
with  the  injury  and  the  status  of  the  injured. 

LAW   RELATING   TO    CONTRACT 

As  regards  the  law  relating  to  contract,  the  only  part  which 
has  any  living  interest  for  the  non-legal  reader  is  that  which 
128 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

contains  the  rules  relating  to  buying  and  selling.  Here  again 
well-nigh  everything  had  its  appropriate  price  fixed.  The 
part  of  the  code  now  to  be  referred  to  is  posterior  to  the  time 
of  Howel,  but  for  our  present  purpose  that  is  hardly  material. 
We  find  in  the  Dimetian  Code  the  price  of  a  stallion  fixed  at 
one  pound,  a  palfrey  at  a  mark,  a  rouncy  at  120  pence,  a 
sumpter-horse  at  80  pence,  a  draught  mare  at  one  cow, 
a  brood  mare  at  120  pence.  With  these  various  values 
attached  to  horses  it  is  interesting  to  compare  the  various 
mounts  placed  upon  them  by  Chaucer  in  his  Prologue  to  the 
Canterbury  Tales.  Thus,  upon  the  palfrey  rode  that  monk 
who  was  described  as 

An  outridere  that  lovede  venerie  ; 
A  manly  man,  to  been  an  abbot  able. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  rouncy  was  good  enough  for  the  ship- 
man,  while  upon  a  mare,  as  a  thing  of  less  worth,  rode  the 
plowman. 

Nearly  every  kind  of  movable  was  appraised.  We  find  the 
price  fixed  for  cows,  oxen,  calves,  swine,  sheep,  goats,  cats, 
fowls,  dogs,  hawks,  bees,  harts  (whose  value  was  that  of  an 
ox,  a  hind's  value  being  that  of  a  '  fair '  cow),  furs  and  skins, 
wood  and  trees,  branches  of  trees,  furniture,  articles  of  hus- 
bandry, boots,  clothing,  saddlery,  etc.  These  fixed  prices  are 
sometimes  expressed  as  being  the  fine  prices  payable  if  the 
thing  is  injured  or  destroyed,  and  sometimes  as  the  sale 
prices. 

Sales  in  those  days  were  much  more  complicated  affairs 
than  they  are  to-day.  They  had  to  be  held  in  specified 
places  and  before  witnesses.  If  credit  were  given  it  was 
customary  and  necessary  to  give  a  surety  or  a  pledge.  On 
the  sale  of  an  animal  the  seller  was  treated  as  having  war- 
ranted or  guaranteed  it  against  the  diseases  most  common  to 
that  type  of  animal.  Thus  in  the  Dimetian  Code  we  read  : 
"  Whoever  shall  sell  a  horse  is  to  insure  its  dilysrwydd  [title] 
until  death ;  and  against  the  staggers,  for  three  dew-falls  ; 
against  the  strangles,  for  three  moons ;  against  the  farcy 

I  129 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

[or  glanders],  a  year  ;  and,  in  addition,  he  is  to  insure  it 
against  any  inward  disorder."  If  these  diseases  or  faults 
appeared  within  the  limited  time  mentioned  the  horse  could 
be  returned.  On  the  other  hand,  if  certain  other  defects 
appeared — e.g.  if  the  horse  turned  out  to  be  a  restive  animal — 
the  seller  had  to  return  a  third  of  the  price  to  the  buyer,  but 
the  buyer  had  to  keep  the  horse,  and  could  not  return  it  and 
demand  the  whole  of  his  money  back. 

As  we  have  seen,  a  cat  had  to  be  warranted  free  from  a 
propensity  to  caterwauling.  Swine  were  to  be  warranted 
against  devouring  their  young.  In  all  cases,  if  fraud  were 
shown  the  bargain  was  off  and  the  person  misled  could  recover 
his  money. 

We  shall  later  have  occasion  to  refer  to  the  Irish  slave 
traffic.  Women  and  children  were  most  commonly  dealt  in 
at  these  sales.  As  M.  Stocquart  has  pointed  out,  the  sale  of 
wives  in  very  early  times  was  one  of  the  most  important 
kinds  of  traffic.  It  is  probable  that  the  women  sold  in 
Ireland  were  often  bought  as  wives  rather  than  as  slaves. 
The  people  depended  on  captives  taken  in  war  for  their 
slaves ;  purchase  would  be  an  unnecessarily  expensive  way 
of  getting  them.  The  trade  was  not,  of  course,  limited 
to  Ireland.  In  the  earliest  Anglo-Saxon  doom  (early  seventh 
century)  there  is  an  interesting  passage  which  shows  that 
the  custom  was  common  in  England.  It  runs  :  "  If  a  man 
buy  a  maiden  with  diseased  cattle,  let  the  bargain  stand  if  it 
be  without  guile,  but  if  there  be  guile  let  him  bring  her  home 
again  and  let  his  property  be  restored  to  him."  This  must, 
in  our  opinion,  refer  to  wife-purchase  and  not  to  slave-buy- 
ing. If  the  latter,  the  cynical  modern  mind  regards  such  a 
doom  as  putting  a  premium  on  diseased  cattle  and  guile  ! 

PROCEDURE 

In  early  societies  we  find  almost  universally  a  considerable 
amount  of  attention  paid  to  the  mode  of  obtaining  obedience 
to  law.  Compared  with  the  amount  of  substantive  law,  or 
law  which  has  to  be  obeyed,  the  amount  of  adjective  law,  or 
130 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

law  relating  to  the  means  which  must  be  taken  to  secure 
obedience,  is  to-day  quite  small.  In  tenth-century  Wales 
and  England  it  was  about  half  the  total  law. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  in  those  days  we  had 
not  to  deal  with  one  '  peace/  the  '  King's  Peace/  extending 
throughout  the  country.  The  number  of  jurisdictions  was 
almost  unlimited.  Even  as  at  the  time  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion many  nobles  in  France  retained  the  old  seigneurial  rights 
of  trying  and  hanging  without  being  responsible  to  anyone, 
so  in  earlier  times  private  jurisdictions  extended  throughout 
England  and  Wales.  In  very  early  times  we  believe  that 
the  tribal  chief  had  jurisdiction  over  the  tribe.  When  the 
social  arrangements  of  the  community  were  more  advanced, 
so  that  we  had  the  dual  organization  of  tribe  and  embryonic 
state,  with  a  chief  at  the  head  of  the  latter,  it  is  probable 
that  both  tribe  and  state  would  have  courts.  Within  times 
of  which  we  know  the  history  we  have  indirect  references  to 
courts  of  the  tribe  and  to  the  lord's  court. 

The  centre  of  the  system  which  was  established  to  enforce 
the  carrying  out  of  contracts  and  the  paying  of  debts — that  is 
to  say,  law  on  the  civil  side — was  the  '  lord  '  or  chieftain.  At 
each  transaction  witnesses  or  contract-men  were  present,  and 
if  credit  was  given  sureties  were  demanded.  These  sureties 
were  men  who  were  pledged  to  see  that  the  debtor  paid. 
The  contract- men  acted  as  arbitrators  in  case  of  a  dispute ; 
or,  if  arbitration  failed,  as  witnesses  if  the  action  went  to 
trial. 

Arbitration  was,  of  course,  extremely  common  in  the  early 
Middle  Ages  both  in  England  and  Wales.  At  a  later  date 
special  days  were  set  aside  for  the  amicable  settlement  of 
disputes.  These  days,  called  dies  amoris,  or  love-days,  are 
frequently  referred  to  by  both  gangland  and  Chaucer.1  In 
later  times  the  arbitrator  was  generally  a  priest,  and  it  was  this 
fact  which  eventually  accounted  for  the  decline  of  the  system, 
the  priests  of  later  mediaeval  England  being  notoriously 
ignorant  and  bribable.  Even  in  Piers  Plowman  we  find 

1  The  practice  was  very  much  earlier  than  gangland. 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

gangland  speaking  of  the  priest-arbitrator  in  no  very  glowing 
terms.     Thus  he  makes  his  priest  say  : 

I  can  hold  lovedayes  and  here  a  reve's  rekenynge, 
And  in  cannon  or  in  decretals  I  cannot  read  a  line. 

Arbitration  was  possibly  even  more  common  in  Wales  than 
in  England,  and  was  evidently  a  practice  of  great  antiquity. 

If  arbitration  came  to  nothing,  and  the  debtor  failed  to  pay, 
then  the  surety  had  to  bring  him  before  the  court,  and  the 
contract-men  had  to  be  prepared  to  give  evidence  of  what 
they  heard  and  saw.  An  account  of  what  took  place  in  court 
would,  we  fear,  prove  dull  to  the  general  reader.  It  consisted 
in  the  main  of  affirmatory  oaths  on  the  one  hand,  and  acknow- 
ledgment, or  oaths  in  denial,  on  the  other.  These  oaths 
were  taken  on  a  haligdom  with  the  Saxons — that  is  to  say, 
some  holy  thing,  generally  a  Bible.  With  the  Welsh  it  was 
the  same  :  some  holy  relic,  generally  a  Bible,  would  be  used, 
or  on  serious  and  solemn  occasions  possibly  the  bones  of  a 
saint.1 

As  we  have  said,  the  duty  of  a  surety  was  to  bring  the 
debtor  to  justice.  If  the  debtor  failed  to  pay,  the  surety  was 
liable  and  had  to  pay,  or  give  a  pledge,  unless  the  debtor 
denied  his  surety.  The  form  of  denial  or  acknowledgment  is 
given  in  vivid  phraseology  in  the  Welsh  codes,  so  that  we  feel 
justified  in  reproducing  the  translation  of  Aneurin  Owen.  It 
runs  as  follows  : 

"If  he  [the  debtor]  willeth  to  deny,  a  surety  is  to  be  thus 
denied  :  let  the  two  parties,  and  the  surety,  come  before  the 
judge  ;  and  the  judge  is  to  seek  from  both  parties  an  acknow- 
ledgment whether  '  Yonder  man  be  a  surety,  or  not  a  surety  ?  ' 
'  A  surety,  God  knows/  says  the  creditor  :  '  Not  a  surety, 
God  knows,'  says  the  debtor.  Then  it  is  right  for  the  judge  to 
ask  the  surety  :  '  Art  thou  a  surety  ?  '  'I  am,'  replies  the 
surety.  '  It  is  wholly  denied,'  says  the  debtor  :  '  thou  art 
not  surety  for  me  ;  neither  for  that  [the  debt  in  question],  nor 

1  Giraldus  tells  us  that  they  held  many  things,  such  as  portable  bells, 
staves  crooked  at  the  top  and  covered  with  gold,  silver,  or  brass,  and  similar 
relics  of  the  saints,  in  more  veneration  than  the  Gospels. 

132 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

for  anything.'  '  God  knows/  says  the  surety,  '  in  the  best 
manner  a  surety  is  to  insist  that  he  is  a  surety,  do  I  insist  on 
my  being  surety.'  '  God  knows,'  says  the  debtor,  '  in  the 
best  manner  a  debtor  is  to  deny  surety,  I  will  deny  it.'  Then 
it  is  right  for  the  judge  to  ascertain  in  what  manner  he  is  to 
deny  it.  Now  the  law  in  this  case  provides,  since  there  is 
only  his  own  evidence  in  the  matter  prosecuting  it,  there  is  to 
be  only  the  evidence  of  the  debtor  to  deny  it.  '  Yes,'  says 
the  debtor,  '  I  will  deny  him.'  Then  it  is  right  for  the  judge 
to  take  the  relic  in  his  hand,  and  say  to  the  debtor  :  '  The 
protection  of  God  prevent  thee  !  and  the  protection  of  the 
Pope  of  Rome  !  and  the  protection  of  thy  lord  !  do  not  take 
a  false  oath.'  " 

This  swearing  on  a  relic  was  regarded  as  a  very  awful  test. 
In  Alfred's  dooms  we  have  words  which  suggest  that  a  man 
might  prefer  to  go  to  the  triple  ordeal  rather  than  risk  a  false 
oath  on  a  haligdom. 

If  the  debtor  in  the  above-mentioned  case  persisted  and 
swore  on  the  relic  and  the  surety  did  not,  the  debtor  was  free. 
If  the  surety  counter-swore  on  the  relic  the  debtor  had  to 
bring  forward  seven  compurgators  to  swear  to  his  innocence. 
The  denial  of  the  oath  had  to  take  place  in  church  between 
the  Benedicamus  and  the  distributing  of  sacramental  bread. 
If  the  debtor  were  proved  unable  to  clear  himself  he  had  to 
pay  the  claim  and  was  liable  to  be  charged  with  perjury. 

The  surety,  as  we  have  said,  had  to  obtain  satisfaction  for 
the  creditor.  One  way  of  so  doing  was  to  get  the  debtor 
before  the  court  so  that  the  creditor  could  get  judgment. 
Another  way  was  to  give  the  creditor  a  pledge  belonging  to 
the  debtor.  Thus,  supposing  the  debtor  owed  twelve  pence, 
the  surety  and  the  creditor  called  at  his  house  and  required 
payment.  If  it  were  not  forthcoming  they  seized  some 
property  which  was  worth  about  twelve  pence,  and  retained 
it  unless  the  debt  was  paid.  If  it  were  left  too  long  unpaid 
the  creditor  could  realize.  A  difficulty,  however,  arose  if 
the  debtor  had  nothing  about  the  value  which  was  seizable. 
Thus  we  read  in  the  Welsh  laws  that  the  debtor  might  be  able 

133 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

to  say,  "  I  have  not  wherewith  to  pay  you,  except  my  horse  ; 
and  that  I  will  neither  give  to  you  nor  pledge."  In  that  case 
we  are  informed  "  the  surety  is  not  to  take  the  pledge  from 
him  ;  and  the  creditor  is  not  to  take  the  pledge  of  the  surety  : 
but  both  parties  are  to  proceed  to  the  lord,  and  declare  to 
him  :  '  There  is  yonder  only  a  great  matter  :  and  a  great 
matter  is  not  to  be  taken  in  pledge  for  a  small  matter.' '  The 
lord  was  then  empowered  to  give  the  necessary  authority  for 
the  seizing  of  the  horse. 

We  find  that  the  Welsh  never  permitted  agency.  As  we 
have  seen,  a  woman  could  contract ;  so  could  a  taeog  to  a  limited 
extent,  but  there  were  three  things  which  he  could  not  sell 
without  his  lord's  permission — a  stallion,  honey,  and  swine — 
just  as  there  were  three  professions  or  arts  which  he  might 
not  learn  save  with  his  lord's  consent — scholarship,  smithcraft, 
and  bardism.  It  was  obviously  desirable  to  prevent  the  villeins 
learning  the  art  of  the  smithy,  since  it  was  the  smiths  who 
made  all  the  armour  1  and  weapons  of  war.  The  exclusion 
from  learning  is  also  understandable.  It  is  always  desirable 
to  keep  in  ignorance  those  whom  you  desire  to  repress. 

We  can  find  no  reference  in  the  Welsh  laws  to  the  quaint 
rule  in  the  Cain  Lanamhna  (Ireland)  that  a  wife  could  set 
aside  her  husband's  foolish  bargains,  but  we  do  find  mention 
made  of  the  similar  rule  (also  found  in  the  Cain  Lanamhna) 
that  a  son  could  set  aside  such  contracts. 

LAW   RELATING   TO    CRIME 

Of  the  early  criminal  law  of  Wales  we  propose  to  say  very 
little.  All  forms  of  crime  could  be  paid  for.  Murder,  or  its 
equivalent,  was  a  term  used  to  describe  the  killing  of  a  tribes- 
man or  countryman.  To  kill  a  stranger  was  in  early  times 
regarded  as  rather  meritorious — unless  the  said  stranger 
happened  to  be  somebody  else's  slave,  in  which  case  com- 
pensation had  to  be  made  as  though  the  slayer  had  broken  a 
chair  or  any  other  possession  belonging  to  a  countryman. 

In  the  case  of  the  murder  of  a  tribesman  or  countryman  in 

1  The  Welsh  never  wore  much  armour. 

*J4 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

early  times  in  Wales  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  blood-feud 
was  common.  The  murdered  man's  family  commenced  a 
war  of  extermination  on  the  family  of  the  murderer,  who,  of 
course,  retaliated.  The  lex  talionis  must  have  resulted  in  an 
immense  number  of  deaths,  so  that  it  must  soon  have  been 
decided  to  substitute  some  other  system  for  the  blood-feud. 
The  pressure  of  outside  enemies,  of  hostile  tribes,  must  have 
made  such  internecine  strife  quite  intolerable.  We  therefore 
find  quite  early  the  substitution  of  blood-money  for  the  blood- 
feud.  This  murder-price  was  called  by  the  Welsh  galanas, 
and  was  generally  three  times  the  saraad,  or  insult  price.  The 
galanas  varied  enormously  according  to  the  status  of  the 
person  murdered,  from  the  king,  whose  galanas  was  treble  his 
saraad  (see  p.  no),  to  a  pencenedl  (the  head  of  a  family),  whose 
life-price  was  189  cows,  to  a  commoner,  who  was  valued  at 
sixty-three  cows,  and  finally  to  a  caeth  (or  slave)  "  of  the 
island,"  whose  life-price  was  but  four  cows.  A  woman's 
galanas  was  half  that  of  a  man,  so  that  a  female  slave  could 
be  murdered  for  the  price  of  two  cows  ! 

The  galanas  had  to  be  paid,  of  course,  by  the  kin  of  the 
murderer.  Failure  to  pay  even  to  the  last  penny  resulted  in 
the  murderer's  life  being  forfeited.  The  method  of  collection 
deserves  mention.  The  murderer,  accompanied  by  a  servant 
of  the  lord  of  the  district,  set  out  in  search  of  relatives,  taking 
with  him  some  holy  relic.  Whenever  he  met  a  person  not 
known  to  be  related  to  him  within  the  seventh  degree  he 
demanded  of  him  whether  he  was  descended  from  any  of  the 
four  kindreds  from  which  he  (the  murderer)  was  descended. 
The  stranger  had  to  answer  on  oath,  swearing  on  the  relic.  If 
he  took  an  oath  in  denial  he  was  exempt.  If  he  admitted 
relationship,  no  oath  was  necessary,  of  course — he  simply  had 
to  contribute  his  share  of  the  life-price. 

If  a  man  slew  an  immediate  kinsman  the  position  was 
rather  different.  No  galanas  appears  to  have  been  payable, 
but  the  murderer  forfeited  his  kinship.  He  became  kin- 
wrecked — an  outcast  from  his  tribe.  He  was  driven  to  the  sea 
with  the  accompaniment  of  angry  cries  and  the  barking  of 

135 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

dogs.  There  he  was  put  on  board  ship,  and  his  one-time 
kinsmen  wrathfully  watched  him  until  he  was  completely 
out  of  sight,  and  for  many  hours  afterward,  lest  he  should 
return. 

THE  RULES  RELATING  TO  FIRE 

There  is  but  one  other  branch  of  the  law  which  we  pro- 
pose to  mention.  The  Welsh  rules  relating  to  fire  (tan)  are 
sufficiently  curious  to  be  worth  describing. 

As  Giraldus  tells  us,  the  Welsh  were  great  fire-users.  They 
were  in  the  habit  of  keeping  their  hearth  fires  burning  both 
night  and  day,  and,  as  he  says,  if  in  the  course  of  the  night  the 
occupants  of  the  house  found  it  chilly  they  left  their  hard 
couches — often  the  ground — and  stirred  the  dying  embers  into 
a  generous  blaze.  When  we  remember  that  the  Welsh  house 
was  in  almost  all  cases  made  of  wood  thatched  with  straw 
it  can  readily  be  understood  that  their  lawgivers  were  forced 
to  make  rules  which  would  guard  against  the  wholesale  burning 
of  villages  and  towns.  We  find,  indeed,  that  this  question  of 
fire  is  very  fully  dealt  with  in  the  codes.  Fire  itself  is  always 
treated  as  a  tangible  thing  of  a  dangerous  nature  which,  in 
the  modern  English  law  phrase,  must  be  kept  in  at  the 
possessor's  peril. 

In  view  of  this  objective  treatment  of  fire  it  is  not  surprising 
that  we  read  of  people  lending  and  borrowing  it,  stealing  it, 
carrying  it  away,  and  having  it  given  !  If  a  person  gave  fire 
away  and  it  did  damage  the  donor  was  liable  to  the  extent  of 
one-third  in  certain  cases,  but  if  the  fire  were  lent  the  lender 
was  not  liable,  apparently.  If  a  person  burnt  his  house 
and  that  house  burnt  another,  and  so  on,  each  householder 
appears  to  have  been  liable  to  the  next  householder,  but  no 
farther.1 

Apart  from  uncontrollable  fires,  there  were  only  three  kinds 
of  fire  for  which  no  indemnity  had  to  be  made.  These  were 
fires  resulting  from  the  burning  of  heath  in  March,  the  fire  of 

1  The  text  is  ambiguous,  but  the  above  appears  to  be  its  meaning.  The 
fire  might  be  regarded  as  '  uncontrollable/  in  which  case  no  one  was  liable. 

136 


PI<ATE  XXVII.    ST.  WINIFRED'S  (OR  WENEFREDE'S)  WEU, 

Photo  Lettsome  &•  Sons,  Llangollen  136 


WELSH    LAWS    AND    CUSTOMS 

a  smithy  in  a  hamlet,  and  the  fire  of  a  bath  in  a  hamlet.  But 
for  the  smithy  and  bath-owner  to  be  free  from  liability  it  was 
necessary  that  these  two  centres  of  danger  should  be  seven 
fathoms  distant  from  the  nearest  house,  and  the  smithy  had  to 
be  covered  with  shingles  or  tiles  or  sods,  and  not  with  thatch. 
This  mention  of  the  bath,  which  was  obviously  heated,  is 
interesting,  but  it  is  doubtful  of  what  nature  these  Welsh 
baths  were.  It  may  be  that  a  rough  type  of  Roman  bath 
continued  in  use. 

Not  only  was  fire  regarded  as  a  definite  object — it  was 
treated  as  a  thing  which  could  act,  just  like  an  animal.  Thus 
we  read  that  "  If  swine  enter  a  house  and  scatter  the  fire 
about  so  as  to  burn  the  house,  and  the  swine  escape,  let  the 
owner  of  the  swine  pay  for  their  act.  If  the  swine  be  burned, 
it  is  an  equation  between  them ;  as  being  two  irrational 
things ;  and,  therefore,  where  there  is  an  equation,  by  law, 
there  is  to  be  nothing  redressed,  but  one  is  to  be  set  against 
another."  And  again  :  "  If  a  person,  in  carrying  fire  from 
the  house  of  another,  should  occasion  sparks  to  fly  about,  let 
him  pay  for  his  act ;  unless  he  can  impute  part  of  it  to  the 
fire." 

As  we  shall  see  in  the  chapters  which  follow,  the  Welsh  well 
knew  how  to  use  fire  as  an  instrument  of  offence.  Many  a 
tribal  leader  was  burnt  out  of  his  stronghold,  and  in  later 
times  many  a  Norman  baron  had  to  choose  between  being 
burnt  to  death  or  crushed  by  the  falling  walls  of  his  blazing 
castle — which  was  often  constructed  mainly  of  wood — and 
attempting  to  cut  through  an  encircling  line  of  enemies,  who 
rarely  allowed  him  to  escape  unless  themselves  overpowered 
by  numbers. 

From  this  short  account  of  Welsh  laws  and  customs  we 
must  now  turn  to  a  further  consideration  of  the  political 
history  of  early  Wales.  Throughout  the  centuries  immediately 
following,  and  perhaps  we  may  say  until  the  time  of  Giraldus, 
who  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  Welsh  mode  of 
living  altered  very  little.  Throughout  these  centuries  they 
were  a  hardy,  warlike,  energetic  people,  ever  ready  to  leave 

137 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  plough  to  take  up  the  sword,  prepared  to  abandon  their 
little  homesteads  for  a  time  in  order  to  retreat  before  a  too 
powerful  enemy,  driving  their  flocks  and  herds  before  them  and 
leaving  nothing  on  which  the  invader  could  seize  or  subsist. 
Born  fighters,  mobile,  excellent  with  the  bow  and  dart,  they 
lived  for  war,  and  it  is  of  war  that  the  succeeding  chapters 
mainly  treat. 


138 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  PRINCES 

FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  CADWALADR  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF 
GRUFFYDD  AP  U,YWBI,YN 

(68I1 P-I023) 

IT  is  perhaps  inelegant  to  divide  a  period  of  history 
according  to  the  deaths  of  its  heroes  rather  than  the 
accession  of  its  princes,  but  the  name  of  the  prince  who 
is  mentioned  in  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  as  succeeding  Cad- 
waladr  is  hardly  known  to  students  of  history.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  accession  of  Gruffydd  ap  I4ywelyn  marks  a  new 
phase  in  this  history,  and  consequently  forms  a  convenient 
point  at  which  to  terminate  a  chapter.  Again,  it  is  desirable 
to  distinguish  clearly  between  the  period  of  the  kings  of 
Britain  (kings  though  they  were  only  in  name)  and  that  of  the 
princes.  We  have  consequently  found  it  desirable  to  date  this 
present  chapter  from  the  death  of  Cadwaladr,  for  with  that 
event,  as  we  have  seen,  "  thenceforth  the  Britons  lost  the  crown 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  Saxons  gained  it."  We  need  not 
criticize  too  closely  this  statement  in  the  Chronicles  of  the 
Princes,  although  doubtless  the  reader  will  agree  that  it  is  from 
the  battle  of  Winwaed  (655)  that  we  should  count  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  pretensions  of  the  British  kings,  which  had  for 
some  few  years,  under  the  leadership  of  Cadwallawn,  appeared 
so  bright. 

The  history  of  this  present  period  is  by  no  means  easy  to 
write.  Our  authorities  are  extremely  few.  As  Stephens  has 

1  The  learned  authors  of  The  Welsh  People  have  pointed  out  that  the  Welsh 
chroniclers  confounded  Cadwaladr  with  Ceadwalla  of  Wessex,  who  died  in 
689  ;  they  believe  Cadwaladr  died  about  664.  See  also  p.  99. 

139 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

pointed  out,  there  is  no  reference  in  the  writings  of  the  bards 
or  poets  to  any  historical  events  during  the  centuries  which 
separate  the  incidents  which  commence  and  terminate  this 
chapter.  Our  most  important  authority  is  the  Chronicles  of 
the  Princes,  which,  however,  is  extremely  sparse  in  its  facts 
until  we  reach  the  eleventh  century.  This  work,  which  in  the 
earliest  manuscript  form  known  to  us  dates  from  the  first  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  which  was  written  not  improb- 
ably at  the  monasteries  of  Strata  Florida  and  Conway,  is 
peculiarly  bare  and  dry  in  its  facts,  at  least  for  these  centuries. 
Later,  when  we  come  to  consider  the  struggles  between  the 
Norman  marchers  and  the  Welsh  princes,  we  find  in  it  a  com- 
prehensive, interesting,  and  probably  accurate  account  of  those 
troublous  times.  When  it  is  recounting  the  events  of  the  eighth 
century  it  is  very  different.  Frequently  we  find  ten  years  or 
so  passed  by  either  without  comment  of  any  sort  or  with  a 
mere  reference  to  the  fact  that  in  such  and  such  a  year  there 
was  a  hot  summer  (e.g.  in  720) ,  or  an  earthquake  in  Armorica — 
facts  which  really  have  neither  interest  nor  value  at  the  present 
time.  The  Annales  Cambriae  is  but  little,  if  any,  more  helpful. 
Sandwiched  in  between  lengthy  periods  of  which  we  know 
nothing  we  find  the  most  unimportant  events  recorded  We 
read  of  comets,  and  of  how  in  690  the  moon  was  a  blood-red 
colour ;  that  in  684  there  was  an  earthquake,  and  in  808  and 
810  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  and  moon  respectively ; *  but  of  actual 
doings  of  men,  whether  kings  or  princes,  philosophers  or 
poets,  we  know  but  little.  The  student  of  early  English  history 
has  doubtless  observed  the  same  flaws  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle  ;  but  the  historian  who  would  write  the  history  of 
England  has  at  his  disposal  a  wealth  of  legal  manuscripts, 
charters,  and  grants,  unequalled,  we  believe,  for  the  period 
with  regard  to  any  nation  in  Europe.  Wales  has  handed  down 
to  us  no  such  rich  legacy.  The  meagreness  of  the  accounts  of 
the  early  chroniclers  of  Wales  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that 

1  The  reason  for  the    recounting  of  these  natural  phenomena  is  given 
us  by  Roger  of  Wendover,  who  says  that  they  may  lead  men  to  see  how 
Providence  punishes  evildoers  1 
140 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

they  were  attempting  to  make  bricks  without  straw.  The 
modern  writer,  or  at  any  rate  the  present  writer,  feels  that  the 
straws  have  not  increased  considerably  with  the  passing  of 
the  centuries. 

It  is  a  matter  for  surprise  that  the  Welsh  chroniclers  found 
themselves  unable  to  furnish  a  more  detailed  account  of  the 
early  history  of  their  country.  We  have  already  remarked 
that  it  was  one  of  the  three  chief  duties  of  the  bards  to  record 
meritorious  events  in  song.  These  bards  must  have  so 
recorded  many  events  now  forgotten  and  unknown.  That 
these  songs  were  unwritten  is  probable,  but  that  alone  does 
not  account  for  their  complete  disappearance  from  memory. 
As  Macpherson,  the  learned  translator  and  editor  of  the  poems 
of  Ossian,  said  many  years  ago,  when  speaking  of  the  bards 
(primarily,  it  is  true,  of  the  Gaelic  bards,  of  whom  Ossian  was 
perhaps  the  greatest),  "  The  use  of  letters  was  not  known  till 
long  after  the  institution  of  the  bards  :  the  records  of  the 
families  of  their  patrons,  their  own,  and  more  ancient  poems, 
were  handed  down  by  tradition.  Their  poetical  compositions 
were  admirably  combined  for  that  purpose.  They  were 
adapted  to  music ;  and  the  most  perfect  harmony  was 
observed.  Bach  verse  was  so  connected  with  those  which 
preceded  or  followed  it,  that  if  one  line  had  been  remembered 
in  a  stanza,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  forget  the  rest.  The 
cadences  followed  in  so  natural  a  gradation,  and  the  words 
were  so  adapted  to  the  common  turn  of  the  voice,  after  it  is 
raised  to  a  certain  key,  that  it  was  almost  impossible,  from  a 
similarity  of  sound,  to  substitute  one  word  for  another.  This 
excellence  is  peculiar  to  the  Celtic  tongue,  and  is  perhaps  to 
be  met  with  in  no  other  language."  Whether  the  above  is 
applicable  to  the  language  of  the  Cymric  bards  of  the  ninth 
century  equally  with  that  of  the  Gaelic  poets  of  Ireland  and 
Scotland  we  are  not  prepared  to  say,  but  we  may  remind  the 
reader  that  the  early  history  of  many  nations  is  known  to  us 
only,  or  chiefly,  through  the  songs  of  its  singers.  Garcilaso 
wrote  the  history  of  the  Incas  of  Peru  long  after  the  Peruvians 
had  lost  all  records  of  their  history.  His  facts  were  gleaned 

141 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

almost  entirely  from  the  poems  which  his  mother,  an  Inca 
princess,  taught  him  in  his  youth. 

With  these  facts  in  our  minds,  and  remembering  the  unusual 
prominence  which  was  given  to  the  bard  and  poet  in  Cymru, 
it  is  indeed  strange  that  our  materials  are  so  sparse — and  not 
only  sparse,  but  dull.  This  state  of  the  authorities  seems  to 
point  to  a  decided  decline  in  bardism ;  yet  that  cannot  explain 
it,  for  in  the  laws  of  Howel  (composed,  not  improbably,  in  the 
tenth  century,  at  least  as  regards  the  part  relating  to  the 
king's  household)  we  find  the  bards  apparently  as  numerous 
and  as  honourably  placed  as  at  any  time  in  Welsh  history. 

The  absence  of  ordinary  historical  evidence  for  the  period  is 
made  all  the  more  startling  by  the  fact  that  Howel's  laws,  in 
part  if  not  all,  date  from  this  time.  That  is  to  say,  we  have  at 
once  one  of  the  most  complete  accounts  of  the  laws  of  Cymru 
of  that  time  with  an  almost  complete  absence  of  knowledge 
of  the  great  contemporary  historical  events.  Perhaps  the 
truth  is  that  the  Welsh  were  not  making  history  during  these 
centuries  ;  that  even  if  the  wit  of  their  poets  enabled  them  to 
make  epics  out  of  the  petty  squabbles  of  their  princes,  the 
works  so  constructed  of  such  bare  material  interested  but 
two  people — the  prince  applauded  and  the  poet  who  praised — 
and  that  consequently  these  songs  founded  no  tradition, 
passed,  indeed,  into  the  limbo  of  forgotten  things  with  the 
passing  of  the  bard  and  his  master.  However  this  may  be,  we 
must  now  endeavour  to  roof  the  palace  of  a  prince  with  straw 
insufficient  to  thatch  the  cottage  of  a  taeog. 

IVOR  AND  RHODRI  MOLWYNOG 

After  the  death  of  Cadwaladr  we  are  told  that  "  Ivor,  son 
of  Alan,  King  of  Armorica,  which  is  called  Little  Britain, 
reigned ;  not  as  a  king,  but  as  chief  or  prince."  This 
Armorica  is,  of  course,  another  name  for  Brittany.  Whether 
we  can  accept  this  story  of  a  chief  ruling  the  Cymry  who  had 
come  from  Brittany  is  uncertain.  The  Cymric  tribal  system 
is  against  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  known  that  during 
the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion  many  British  refugees  had  fled  tq 
142 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

Armorica,  and  it  is  obvious  that  all  through  the  early  centuries 
of  our  era  a  very  close  connexion  existed  between  the  Brythons 
of  Brittany  and  Britain. 

.  The  king  or  prince  who  reigned  after  Ivor  was  a  person  of 
whom  we  know  rather  more.  This  prince,  Rhodri  Molwynog, 
was  a  contemporary  of  Aethelbald,  king  of  Mercia.  Aethel- 
bald  commenced  to  reign  in  A.D.  716.  The  date  of  Rhodri's 
accession  was  probably  about  720,  and,  according  to  the 
Brut  y  Tywysogion,  he  was  fighting  in  Cornwall  and  South 
Wales  (presumably  against  the  Saxons)  in  721.  The  Annales 
assigns  the  year  722  to  these  actions.  His  death  took 
place  in  754.  It  is  therefore  fairly  clear  that  this  Rhodri — 
who  must  be  kept  clearly  distinct  from  the  later  and  more 
famous  Rhodri  Mawr  (Roderick  the  Great) — was  a  prince  who 
reigned  in  Wales  for  about  thirty  years.  During  these  years 
it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Cymry  were  waging  war  against 
the  Mercians.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  death  of  Rhodri 
and  Aethelbald  and  the  accession  of  Offa  that  the  Mercian 
campaign  against  the  Cymry  comes  into  prominence.  During 
Rhodri's  reign  we  read  of  battles  between  the  Picts  and  Britons. 
These  are  mentioned  in  both  the  Annales  Cambriae  and  in  the 
Brut.  The  latter  gives  the  name  of  a  battle  fought  at  Maesydog 
between  the  Picts  and  the  Britons,  in  which  the  Britons  were 
apparently  victorious  and  killed  Talargan,  king  of  the  Picts. 
This  may  perhaps  have  a  connexion  with  the  Pictish  cam- 
paign undertaken  by  Eadbert  of  Northumbria  about  this 
time.  Possibly  it  refers  to  the  terrible  disaster  which  was 
inflicted  on  the  combined  Pictish  and  Saxon  army  by  the 
Britons  of  Strathclyde  during  the  former's  march  through 
Perthshire.  The  date  of  this  British  victory  as  given  in  the 
Brut,  however,  was  750,  and  Hadbert's  defeat  occurred  in 
756,  two  years  after  Rhodri's  death. 

Rhodri  Molwynog  was  less  fortunate  in  his  successors  than 
was  Aethelbald.  The  Mercian  left  his  country,  growing  rapidly 
in  power,  to  a  ruler  bold,  ambitious,  and  able.  Offa  of  Mercia 
was,  in  fact,  for  many  years  the  chief  power  in  Britain,  so  that 
we  find  Pope  Hadrian  I  in  an  epistle  to  Charlemagne  referring 

H3 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

to  him  as  rex  Anglorum  (which,  however,  cannot  be  translated 
as  '  king  of  the  English,'  but  rather  as  '  king  of  the  Angles ' 
— a  lesser  title  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Mercia  was  essentially 
an  Angle  settlement).  Wales,  on  the  other  hand,  appears  to 
have  been  divided  between  the  two  sons  of  Rhodri,  Conan 
and  Howel  by  name. 

CONAN  AND  HOWEL 

These  two  princes  chose  to  fight  against  one  another  rather 
than  to  unite  against  the  common  enemy.  As  a  result  we 
find  the  Mercian  pushing  the  border  of  Cymru  from  the  line 
of  the  Severn  almost  to  the  Wye.  Apart  from  the  time  when 
Wulfhere  was  king  of  Mercia,  all  this  fertile  land  had  until 
now  been  part  of  Cymru.  The  struggle  for  this  much-dis- 
puted territory  does  not,  however,  end  with  Offa.  Later, 
as  we  shall  see,  many  border  fights  were  fought  against  the 
Norman  barons  before  the  counties  of  Shropshire  and  Hereford 
were  finally  relinquished  by  their  one-time  owners,  the  Welsh. 

Some  twenty-two  years  after  the  death  of  Rhodri  we  read 
of  the  "  destruction"  of  the  men  of  South  Wales  (Deheubarth) 
by  Offa,  and  again  in  780  or  784  we  find  Offa  "  spoiling  the 
Britons  in  the  summer-time."  x  The  Chronicles  of  the  Princes 
would  have  us  believe  that  the  Welsh  also  devastated  the 
territory  of  Offa  in  the  summer-time,  and  that  it  was  as  a 
result  of  this  raid  that  Offa  caused  the  dike  to  be  dug  which 
has  been  associated  with  his  name  ever  since.  This  earthwork, 
we  are  told,  extended  "  from  one  sea  to  the  other,  from  the 
south,  near  Bristol,  to  the  north,  above  Flint,  between  the 
monastery  of  Basingwerk  and  Coleshill."  It  consisted  of  an 
earthen  rampart  flanked  by  a  ditch,  extended  for  some 

1  The  Gwentian  Brut  as  quoted  in  the  Victoria  History  of  Hereford,  p.  259, 
contains  the  following  entries  :  "  In  765,  the  Cymry  devastated  Mercia,  and 
thereupon  Offa  made  a  greater  Dike,  called  Offa's  Dike,  to  divide  Wales  from 
Mercia."  "  In  776,  the  men  of  Gwent  and  Glamorgan  entered  Mercia  and 
razed  Offa's  Dike  level  with  the  ground!"  "  In  784,  Offa  made  a  Dike  a 
second  time,  nearer  to  himself,  leaving  a  piece  of  country  between  Wye  and 
Severn  where  is  the  tribe  of  Elystan  Glodrydd."  As  the  learned  writer  in 
the  Victoria  History  suggests,  this  probably  accounts  for  the  two  sets  of 
earthworks  noticeable  between  Kennel  Wood  and  Shoals  Bank. 

144 


PI.ATE  XXVIII.     OFFA'S  DIKE 

Showing  Fosse  on  left 
Photo  Lettsome  &  Sons,  Llangollen 


144 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

130  miles  from  and  to  the  places  where  the  Dee  and  the  Wye 
run  into  the  sea.  Of  it  Dr.  Hodgkin  says  :  "  Though  we 
are  distinctly  told,  on  good  authority,  that  the  object  of 
this  huge  work  was  a  military  defence,  it  is  probable  that, 
like  the  Vallum  in  Northumberland  and  the  Pfahlgraben  in 
Germany,  it  was  also  a  geographical  boundary,  and  served 
a  useful  purpose  in  time  of  peace,  as  marking  the  limit  of  two 
rival  jurisdictions  and  clearly  indicating  to  which  of  them 
pertained  the  duty  of  punishing  robbery  or  murder  committed 
on  either  side  of  the  border."  This  dike,  continues  Dr. 
Hodgkin,  probably  commemorates  the  result  of  the  "  devasta- 
tion of  the  southern  Britons  wrought  by  Offa  which  is  noted 
by  the  Cambrian  annals  under  the  years  778  and  784."  As  to 
this  we  must  add  that  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes  makes  it 
doubtful  whether  this  was  the  reason  for  the  digging  of  the  dike 
The  two  accounts  do  not  quite  tally  in  their  facts  or  dates. 

There  is  another  dike  which  is  found  by  the  side  of  Offa's 
Dike  through  part  of  its  length.  Wat's  Dike,  as  this  second 
one  is  called,  is  believed  to  date  from  about  the  same  period. 
Its  purpose  and  origin  are  unknown. 

During  all  these  troublous  times  Conan  and  Howel  appear 
to  have  been  disputing  as  to  the  possession  of  Mon.  The 
whole  account  of  this  period  is,  however,  very  unsatisfactory. 
In  the  first  place,  we  have  no  reason  to  think  that  Rhodri 
Molwynog  was  king  of  the  whole  of  Wales.  It  must  always 
be  borne  in  mind  that  there  were  at  this  period  in  Cymru 
many  divisions  of  territory,  all  of  which  were  at  one  time  or 
another  described  as  '  kingdoms.'  Thus  Gwynedd,  Powys, 
Ceredigion,  Demetia,  Dyfed,  Morgannwg,  Gwent,  Brycheiniog, 
Buellt,  Ystrad  Tywi,  Rhufoniog,  Cydweli,  Gwyr,  Mon,  and 
later  Deheubarth  were  all  accounted  kingdoms.  Rhodri  was 
not  improbably  king  of  North  Wales,  including  Gwynedd  and 
Mon.1  In  the  second  place,  the  dates  are  very  doubtful. 
According  to  the  early  Welsh  historian  Caradog  of  lylancarvan, 
Conan  is  represented  as  succeeding  Rhodri  in  750  and  reigning 

1  It  may  be  that  he  ruled  only  over  Mon.  The  territorial  divisions  of 
Wales  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  are  very  confused. 

K  145 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

until  817,  in  which  year  he  died,  after  expelling  his  brother, 
Howel,  from  M6n.  The  Chronicles  of  the  Princes,  on  the 
other  hand,  makes  no  mention  of  Conan  (Kynan)  until 
812,  when  we  find  him  fighting  against  his  brother  Howel. 
From  that  date  until  817,  when  Gonan  died,  the  brothers  seem 
to  have  occupied  themselves  with  driving  each  other  out  of 
M6n  in  turn. 

During  all  the  years  which  elapse  between  the  death  of 
Rhodri  (c.  754)  and  the  first  mention  of  Conan  in  the 
Chronicles  of  the  Princes  it  does  not  appear  that  the  men  of 
North  Wales  had  any  outstanding  leaders,  although  we  read 
of  a  certain  Caradog,  king  of  Gwynedd,  being  killed  by  the 
Saxons  in  798.  Of  the  leaders  of  the  Powysians — who  suffered 
most  heavily  by  the  alteration  of  the  border-line  between 
Mercia  and  Wales — we  know  nothing.  Of  the  history  of 
South  Wales  we  know  but  little  more.  As  we  have  already 
said,  it  was  mainly  against  the  men  of  South  Wales  that  the 
Mercian  attack  appears  to  have  been  launched.  In  796  we 
read  of  the  death  of  Morgatrud,  king  of  the  Demetiae. 

With  the  death  of  Gonan  in  817  two  new  enemies  appear. 
In  that  year  we  find  the  Saxons  ravaging  the  country  and 
seizinglthe  kingdom  of  Rhufoniog,  and  from  the  sea  appear 
for  the  first  time  the  '  black  pagans '  who  were  destined  in 
the  future  to  cause  so  much  misery,  not  only  to  Wales,  but  to 
England  and  Ireland  as  well. 

MERFYN  FRYCH 

Conan  left  as  heiress  to  his  distracted  kingdom  a  daughter. 
This  daughter,  Esyllht,  was  either  the  mother  or  the  wife  of 
Merfyn  Frych,  Conan's  successor.  The  relationship  between 
this  prince  and  his  predecessor  is  somewhat  difficult  to  deter- 
mine with  accuracy.  In  the  earlier  manuscripts  he  appears 
to  have  been  the  son  of  Esyllht  vz  Conan,  in  the  later  authorities 
she  is  named  as  his  wife.  It  seems  clear  that  he  succeeded  to 
the  realm  in  consequence  of  Esyllht's  title  thereto.  This 
would  point  to  the  relationship  being  that  of  mother  and 
son,  since  the  Welsh  law  of  succession,  though  it  sometimes 
146 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

recognizes  succession  through  a  mother,  never  allows  a  claim 
through  a  wife.  This,  however,  is  by  no  means  conclusive, 
since  it  appears  that  his  subjects  regarded  his  title  to  the 
throne  as  very  defective.  At  least  his  reign  was  nicknamed 
'  Injustice,'  probably  in  reference  to  the  fact  that  they  looked 
upon  his  seizure  of  the  crown  as  contrary  to  law  and  justice. 

Mr.  Nicholson  has  perhaps  solved  the  difficulty  by  his 
suggestion  that  the  many  early  Welsh  genealogies  are  not  in 
all  cases  tables  of  descent,  but  of  succession.  The  passage 
which  would  make  Merf yn  the  son  of  Esyllht  runs  as  follows  : 
map  Rotri  mermin  map  Etthil  merch  cinnan.  Mr.  Nicholson  has 
shown  that  the  tendency  of  the  scribe  who  copied  out  the 
earlier  tables  into  the  form  we  now  possess  was  in  the  habit  of 
substituting  map  (son)  for  guor  (over  or  before),  and  he  would 
replace  the  above  corrupted  text  by  the  following  :  guor  Rotri 
mermin  gur  [not  guor]  Etthil  merch  cinnan  =  "  before  Rhodri, 
Merfyn — husband  [=  gur,  which  the  scribe  read  guor  and 
replaced  by  map,  as  usual]  of  Esyllht  the  daughter  of  Conan." 
If  this  very  ingenious  argument  is  sound  we  must  regard 
Merfyn  as  Esyllht's  husband  rather  than  her  son. 

Merfyn  Frych  would  appear  to  have  come  originally  from 
the  Isle  of  Man.  The  bards  have  at  least  informed  us  that  he 
came  from  the  land  of  Manaw.  This  may  mean  either  the 
Isle  of  Man  or  Manaw  in  Scotland.  In  determining  which  of 
these  two  places  gave  him  to  Wales  we  are  at  once  helped  and 
perplexed  by  his  ancestry.  We  are  told  on  the  one  hand  that 
he  was  a  descendant  of  I,lywarch  H6n,  the  poet  who  suffered 
so  grievously  in  the  sack  of  Viroconium,  and  who  was  a  Prince 
of  Strathclyde.  This,  of  course,  points  to  a  Scottish  or  Cum- 
brian origin.  On  the  other  hand,  his  father  was  one  called 
Gwriad,  and  within  recent  years  a  ninth-century  inscription 
has  been  unearthed  in  the  Isle  of  Man  bearing  the  words 
Crux  G'uriat  ('  The  Cross  of  Gwriad ').  This  is  strong  evidence 
that  he  came  from  the  little  island  in  the  Irish  Sea.  Again, 
when  we  read  '  Manaw '  in  early  documents  it  means  prima 
facie  the  Isle  of  Man.  We  will  therefore  regard  Merfyn  as 
a  native  of  that  island. 

147 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Merfyn's  reign  lasted  until  844,  and  very  few  events  took 
place  during  it  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  In  823  he 
appears  to  have  been  at  war  with  the  Saxons,  who,  we  read, 
destroyed  the  castle  of  Deganwy  (the  ancient  seat  of  the  house 
of  Cunedda).  This  campaign  was  probably  directed  mainly 
against  Powys,  and  may  have  been  one  of  Egbert's  onslaughts, 
although  Egbert  would  appear  to  have  led  his  army  against 
Powys  in  830  and  not  in  823.  Another  fact  of  great  significance 
is  mentioned  in  the  chronicles  of  this  period — the  appearance 
of  the  '  black  pagans.' 

It  was  with  these  '  black  pagans '  (Norsemen  and  Danes l)  that 
the  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Welsh  were  to  wage  bitter  war  through- 
out the  remaining  years  of  the  ninth  century.  The  great 
champion  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  during  the  most  critical 
years  of  the  second  phase  of  that  struggle  was  Alfred ;  of  the 
Welsh,  Rhodri.  Both,  in  consequence,  probably,  of  the 
energy  with  which  they  beat  back  the  new  enemy,  earned 
the  title  of  '  the  Great.'  Alfred,  it  is  true,  won  this  title  in 
many  ways.  A  great  soldier,  an  enlightened  monarch,  a 
renowned  lawgiver,  and  a  beneficent  patron  of  the  arts  and 
of  all  learning,  he  is  undoubtedly  the  outstanding  figure  of 
pre-Norman  England.  His  wise  men  came  from  many  parts, 
his  energies  sent  men  on  missions  of  inquiry  to  many  lands. 
We  even  read,  in  a  tenth-century  work,  of  his  sending  a 
medical  mission  to  Helias.  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  for  some 
good  recipes.  In  truth  Alfred  was  in  many  ways  a  great  man 
and  was  far  in  advance  of  his  time. 

RHODRI  MAWR 

Rhodri  Mawr's  title  to  greatness  is  rather  to  be  traced  to 
the  extent  of  his  territories  and  his  worth  as  a  soldier.  Yet 
even  so  limited  he  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  the  descendants  of  Cunedda. 

If  we  accept  Mr.  Nicholson's  account  of  the  genealogy  of 
Merfyn  Frych,  we  must  regard  Rhodri  as  the  son  of  Merfyn 
and  his  wife  Esyllht  and  grandson  of  Nest,  Princess  of  Powys. 

1  The  Danes  are  generally  referred  to  as  'white  pagans.' 
148 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

His  wife  was  Angharad  vz  Meurig  ap   Dyfnwallon,   whose 
brother  ruled  over  Seisyllwg. 

These  relationships  are  in  this  particular  case  of  some 
importance,  since  Rhodri,  in  virtue  of  his  right  of  succession  to 
his  grandmother,  mother,  and  (presumably)  wife,  claimed  nearly 
the  whole  of  Wales  as  his  kingdom,  and  thus  for  a  few  years 
was  able  to  make  the  Cymry  true  countrymen.  Thus  united, 
we  find  them  beating  back  the  Danes  with  apparent  success. 

As  we  have  seen,  Rhodri  obtained  the  kingdom  of  Gwynedd 
on  the  death  of  Merfyn  Frych  in  844.  Powys  became  his  on 
the  death  of  Cyngen,  last  of  the  royal  house  of  the  central 
kingdom,  who  died  while  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  in  855. 
Seisyllwg,  the  kingdom  made  from  the  conjunction  of  Ceredigion 
and  Ystrad  Tywi,  probably  fell  under  his  sway  much  later. 
We  find  Gwgon  ruling  over  Ceredigion  until  872,  when  he  was 
drowned.  Gwgon  was  the  brother  of  Angharad,  Rhodri's 
wife,  and  the  time  of  his  death  probably  synchronizes  with 
Rhodri's  acquisition  of  that  part  of  Wales.  Rhodri  was  now 
king  of  the  whole  of  Wales,  save  only  Dyfed  and  Gwent  and 
certain  other  minor  parts. 

Before  Rhodri  obtained  control  over  Powys,  and  while  yet 
Cyngen  was  ruling  over  that  kingdom,  the  Mercians — who 
were  the  continual  enemies  of  Wales,  and  had  already,  as  we 
have  seen,  made  incursions  into  Powys  in  823  or  830  under 
Egbert  of  Wessex — renewed  the  attack.  This  was  in  853, 
when  Aethelwulf  was  king  of  Wessex.  Burhred  was  then  king 
of  Mercia,  and  we  find  him  in  that  year  appealing  to  his  over- 
lord Aethelwulf  for  help  against  the  men  of  North  Wales. 
Aethelwulf  responded,  and  the  combined  expedition  was, 
apparently,  successful.  It  is  not  clear  against  whom  this 
campaign  was  directed,  but  it  would  seem  probable  that 
already  at  this  time  Rhodri  was  controlling  Powys — at  that 
time  not  improbably  neglected  by  its  pilgrim-king.  The 
"  men  of  North  Wales  "  looks  like  Rhodri's  men,  and  Rhodri 
was  the  only  leader  in  Wales  who  was  at  that  time  powerful 
enough  to  make  it  necessary  for  the  king  of  Mercia  to  call  in 
to  his  aid  the  West  Saxons. 

149 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Mercia  was,  of  course,  at  this  time  a  much  weaker  state 
than  in  the  time  of  OfTa.  So  too  was  Wessex.  The  reason 
for  the  weakness  of  the  West  Saxon  kingdom  was  connected 
with  the  cause  of  Rhodri's  strength.  There  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Dane  was  already  proving  a  much  greater 
enemy  to  the  Saxons  than  to  the  Welsh.  It  became  necessary 
for  both  Wessex  and  Mercia  to  husband  their  resources  in 
order  to  cope  with  the  new  danger.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  Welsh  border  knew  comparative  peace.  It  will  be 
remembered,  perhaps,  that  under  date  855  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle  contains  the  significant  entry,  "  In  this  year  heathen 
men  first  remained  over  winter  in  Sheppey."  That  marks  the 
end  of  the  period  of  mere  plunder  and  the  commencement  of 
.the  period  of  Danish  settlement.  Henceforward  the  Saxon 
kings  of  England  had  little  time  to  give  to  any  attempted 
conquest  or  annoyance  or  plunder  of  Wales. 

THE  'BLACK  PAGANS' 

;••'.  It  will  doubtless  be  present  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  that 
the  Danes  settled  extensively  in  England  between  855  and 
896,  and  conquered  England  in  1016,  when  Cnut  became  king. 
It  was  while  England  was  still  largely  peopled  by  Danes  that 
the  Norman  Conquest  occurred.  It  is  therefore  obvious  that 
the  Danish  invasion  introduced  a  new  race  into  England, 
whose  customs  and  racial  characteristics  have  doubtless  had 
considerable  influence  upon  English  history.  It  was,  however, 
different  in  the  case  of  Wales.  To  a  great  extent  the  Danes 
came  to  Wales,  not  to  settle  or  to  conquer,  but  to  plunder. 
Plunder  they  doubtless  did.  The  consequent  loss  was,  for 
the  moment,  considerable,  but  such  excursions  had  no  great 
national  effect. 

It  is,  however,  quite  obvious  that  the  Danes  did  settle  to 
some  extent  in  Wales.  One  cannot  explain  the  Danish  and 
Norse  place-names  found  around  the  coast  of  Wales  on  the 
plunder  theory  simply.  A  town  was  not  likely  to  call  itself  by 
a  Norse  name  because  it  had  been  sacked  by  the  '  black 
pagans '  or  because  a  neighbouring  monastery  had  been 
150 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

robbed  of  its  plate.  Yet  we  find  such  names  as  Grasholm 
instead  of  the  older  Gwales ;  Fishguard  for  Abergwaun ; 
Cymric  Mon  becomes  Danish  Anglesey.  Priestholm  and 
Swansea  obviously  owe  their  name  to  the  same  race.  All 
these  places  are  either  islands  or  coast  towns.  In  the  interior 
no  Danish  place-names  are  to  be  found.  The  inference  is  that 
the  Danes  settled  in  a  few  ports  and  islands,  but  for  the  main 
contented  themselves  with  plundering  the  neighbouring  Welsh 
tribes. 

We  know  most,  perhaps,  of  the  occupation  of  Anglesey. 
The  name  of  this  island  is  curious.  At  first  sight  it  would 
appear  to  mean  '  the  island  of  the  Angles ' — just  as  Chelsea 
means  '  the  island  of  the  chisels.'  William  of  Malmesbury, 
indeed,  suggested  that  this  was  its  meaning,  and  regarded 
Eadwine's  conquest  of  it  as  being  the  cause  of  its  new  name. 
This  would  be  some  time  after  617.  This  derivation  has  the 
support  of  some  eminent  historians,  but  within  recent  years  it 
has  been  suggested  that  the  name  is  Norse  and  means  '  the 
island  on  the  fiord/  from  ongull,  a  fiord.  The  word  Ongulsey 
is  found  in  the  Orkneyinga  Saga,  and  this  derivation  has  the 
added  advantage  of  explaining  why  Anglesey  is  referred  to  as 
Mon,  quite  universally,  long  after  Eadwine  of  Deira  was  dead. 
Mon,  indeed,  is  always  the  name  for  Anglesey  in  the  Welsh 
sources. 

It  would  seem  that  the  '  black  pagans'  first  swept  down  upon 
Anglesey  in  853.  The  loss  of  this  part  of  Cymru  would  have 
been  a  serious  blow  to  the  house  of  Gwynedd.  Aberffraw, 
their  ancestral  seat,  was  situated  in  the  island.  The  royal 
demesne  lands  were  there.  Anglesey  was  at  that  time  the 
garden  of  Wales.  Fertile  and  populous,  it  bore  a  very  different 
aspect  then  from  its  present  one.  In  853  the  attack  seems  to 
have  been  a  sudden  one  for  the  purpose  of  plunder.  Probably 
the  Welsh  were  surprised.  We  do  not  read  of  any  organized 
resistance  on  the  one  hand  or  of  any  prolonged  stay  on  the 
other.  Anglesey  was  '  ravaged.'  Three  years  later  Rhodri 
obtained  his  revenge  when  he  slew  Horm,  the  leader  of  the 
Danes.  This  did  not,  however,  terminate  or  even  postpone 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  struggle.  In  877  (or  876)  there  appears  to  have  been  a 
battle  of  considerable  size  fought  in  Anglesey — '  the  battle  on 
the  Sunday/  The  Cymry  seem  to  have  been  defeated,  and 
we  find  Rhodri  passing  over  to  Ireland,  whether  as  one  seeking 
safety  or  help  we  cannot  say — although  the  Irish  chronicles 
suggest  the  former  alternative.  However  this  may  be,  next 
year  we  find  him  back  again.  This  time  his  enemies  would 
appear  to  have  been,  not  the  Danes,  but  the  Saxons.  In  that 
year  we  have  the  entry  in  the  Annales  Cambriae  :  Rotri  et 
filius  [f rater  ?]  eius  guriat  a  saxonibus  iugulatur.  This  slaying 
of  the  leader  of  their  nation  by  the  Saxons  was  regarded  as 
a  great  loss  by  the  Welsh.  A  few  years  later  we  find  the 
chroniclers  glorying  in  the  battle  of  Conway  and  acclaiming 
it  as  "  God's  vengeance  for  the  slaughter  of  Rhodri." 

Some  authorities  regard  '  the  battle  on  the  Sunday '  as 
having  been  fought  between  Welshman  and  Mercian.  There 
is  really  no  direct  evidence  of  this.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
improbable  that  two  Christian  kings  would  in  those  days 
have  chosen  a  holy  day  on  which  to  fight.  Mercia  was  now, 
of  course,  Christian.1  It  would  have  been  thought  unfortunate 
to  choose  such  a  day  for  battle.  This,  then,  points  to  a  heathen 
foe.  We  know  the  Danes  were  in  the  Irish  Sea  about  this 
time,  and  there  is  nothing  antecedently  improbable  in  their 
attempt  to  repeat  their  successful  plundering  campaign  of 
853.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that 
Mercia,  or  Wessex,  or  both,  were  in  a  position  to  strike  right 
through  North  Wales,  cross  the  Menai  Straits,  and  attack 
Rhodri  in  the  very  centre  (politically)  of  his  kingdom.  Had 
this  been  so,  seeing  that  the  Welsh  were  badly  defeated,  the 
probabilities  are  that  Mercia  would  have  had  some  sort  of 
permanent  footing  in  North  Wales ;  yet  such  was  not  the  case. 
We  may  therefore  take  it  that  '  the  battle  on  a  Sunday  '  was 
fought  against  the  Norsemen,  who  were  not  intent  on  settle- 
ment, but  on  plunder. 

1  In  the  Codex  Diplomaticus  we  have  preserved  an  interesting  grant  of  a 
steelyard  to  Bishop  Alhune  by  Burhred  of  Mercia  for  the  benefit  of  his  soul — 
but  the  cleric  had  to  pay  pretty  stiffly  for  the  privilege  notwithstanding. 
152 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

All  through  Rhodri's  reign  it  is  probable  that  he  was  defend- 
ing his  state  from  the  Danes  on  the  west  and  north  and 
from  the  Mercians  on  the  east.  The  help  of  Aethelwulf 
enabled  Mercia  to  resist  the  Welsh  attacks.  Of  what  preceded 
the  Saxon  incursion  which  led  to  Rhodri's  last  defeat  we  really 
know  nothing.  The  result  was  the  death  of  a  gallant  man 
and  the  redivision  of  Wales. 

ANARAWD,  CADELL,  AND  MERFYN 

Of  Rhodri's  six  sons  we  are  content  to  mention  the  three 
who  appear  to  have  divided  their  father's  kingdom  between 
them.  These  three  were  Anarawd,  Cadell,  and  Merfyn. 
Anarawd,  as  the  eldest  son,  took  Anglesey  and  Gwynedd. 
Cadell  obtained  as  his  share  a  large  part  of  South  Wales. 
Merfyn,  doubtless,  took  some  considerable  part  of  Wales,  but 
what  part  is  unknown.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  above 
division  takes  no  notice  of  Powys.  Possibly  the  Mercians 
were  still  contesting  the  possession  of  this  part  of  Cymru; 
possibly  this  was  Merfyn's  share.  We  do  not  know. 

North  and  South  Wales  have  at  various  times  disputed 
somewhat  warmly  which  of  these  three  sons  was  the  eldest, 
arguing  that  upon  that  depends  whether  North  Wales  or 
South  Wales  is  historically  the  more  important.  A  somewhat 
empty  discussion  one  would  have  thought,  especially  when  one 
remembers  that  England  went  to  a  younger  son  and  Nor- 
mandy to  the  elder.  From  the  authorities  it  is  difficult  to 
say  whether  Anarawd  or  Cadell  was  the  senior.  Some  say 
one,  some  another.  To  us,  however,  the  fact  that  Anarawd 
inherited  the  principality  of  Gwynedd  and  Mon — a  principality 
which  had  been  his  ancestors'  from  the  foundation  of  the 
dynasty — seems  to  us  conclusive.  Whoever  became  Prince 
of  Gwynedd  and  lord  of  Aberffraw  was  without  question  either 
the  eldest  son  or  the  ouster  of  the  eldest  son,  and  there  is  ample 
evidence  to  show  that  the  latter  alternative  cannot  be  accepted.1 

These  three  sons  seem,  indeed,  to  have  worked  together 
harmoniously.  They  seem,  however,  to  have  been  terrors  to 

1  Asser  also  gives  Anarawd  priority  of  place. 

153 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  neighbouring  princes.  We  find  Hyfaidd,  Prince  of  Dyfed, 
Elise  ap  Tewdwr  of  Brycheiniog,  Howel  of  Glywysing,  and 
the  sons  of  Meurig  of  Gwent  all  in  turn  seeking  the  protection 
of  Alfred,1  now  become,  by  his  victory  at  Bthandune  (878), 
the  predominant  power  in  England.  Hyfaidd's  position  was 
rather  interesting.  He  himself  had  been  a  notorious  perse- 
cutor of  the  monks  of  St.  David's,  from  whom  he  doubtless 
exacted  the  uttermost  he  could.  After  he  had  sought  the 
protection  of  Alfred  we  find  Asser,  Bishop  of  St.  David's, 
journeying  to  Alfred's  court  because  he  believed  that  he 
could  better  protect  St.  David's  as  servant  of  Hyfaidd's  pro- 
tector than  by  remaining  in  Wales.  Whether  his  extremely 
shrewd  analysis  of  the  situation  proved  correct  we  do  not 
know.  At  least  we  must  be  thankful  that  he  made  the 
change.  To  that  we  owe  much,  if  not  most,  of  our  knowledge 
of  Alfred  and  his  times. 

ALFRED  AND  THE  DANES 

We  must  now  turn  once  again  to  Mercia.  In  88 1  we  find 
Aethelred  of  Mercia  leading  his  army  through  the  mountains 
of  North  Wales.  This  movement  was  checked  and  Aethelred's 
hopes  finally  dispelled  by  the  battle  of  Conway,  fought  in  that 
year.  In  this  battle  Anarawd  decisively  defeated  the  Mercian, 
inflicting  heavy  loss  on  his  army. 

Anarawd  seems  now  to  have  adopted  the  extreme  course  of 
entering  into  an  alliance  with  the  Danes,  who  had  been  slowly 
conquering  the  north  of  England.  The  arrangement  does  not 
seem,  however,  to  have  worked  satisfactorily,  and  so  we  find 
him  making  submission  to  Alfred.  Now  for  the  first  time  we 
read  of  a  Welsh  prince  paying  a  ceremonious  visit  to  an 
English  king.  Anarawd  appears  to  have  been  treated  with 
much  honour  and  courtesy  at  the  court  of  Alfred.  It  was 
possibly  as  a  result  of  these  friendly  overtures  and  the  equally 
friendly  reception  of  them  that  we  find  the  armies  of  Saxon 
and  Welshman  ranged  side  by  side  at  the  battle  of  Buttington. 
The  Welsh  who  fought  there  were  "  some  part  of  the  North 

1  We  give  the  common  spelling.     More  correctly  it  should  be  Aelfred. 
154 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    PRINCES 

Welsh  race."  They  fought  as  opponents  of  one  common 
enemy,  the  Danes.  The  result  was  a  severe  check  to  the 
Danish  arms,  which  had  previously,  during  the  years  892-893, 
ravaged  and  devastated  the  whole  of  southern  England. 

Who  these  men  of  the  '  North  Welsh '  race  were  is  not 
clear.  The  chronicle  may  be  distinguishing  them  from  the 
West  Welsh  of  Cornwall ;  it  may  be  that  they  were  men  of 
what  we  should  now  call  South  Wales.  It  seems  to  us,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  not  improbable  that  Anarawd  had  broken  his 
earlier  treaty  with  the  Danes  for  some  good  reason  which  had 
at  once  driven  him  to  Alfred  and  made  him  their  bitter  enemy. 
If  this  be  so,  we  can  reasonably  infer  that  his  men  may  have 
fought  by  the  side  of  Mercian  and  West  Saxon  in  this  battle 
on  the  banks  of  the  Severn.  We  find  Anarawd  aided  in  turn 
by  the  English  in  a  campaign  which  he  was  directing  against 
his  brother  Cadell.  Confusion  is  introduced,  however,  into  a 
line  of  argument  which,  in  our  opinion,  would  otherwise  prove 
conclusively  that  it  was  Anarawd's  men  who  fought  at 
Buttington  by  the  fact  that  early  in  894  we  find  the  Mercians 
raiding  North  Wales — doubtless  in  search  of  the  food  which 
the  Danish  raids  had  completely  destroyed  in  their  own 
country  of  Mercia. 

All  these  years  the  Danes  were  plundering  and  devastating 
England.  The  genius  of  Alfred  had  checked  them  time  after 
time,  but  their  numbers  were  considerable  and  they  seem  to 
have  gloried  in  war.  We  find  them,  therefore,  ravaging  the 
Severn  valley  in  895.  They  reached  Quatbridge,  not  far  from 
Bridgnorth.  From  there  as  a  centre  for  operations  they 
destroyed  Mercia  and  the  Welsh  principalities  of  lyoyer, 
Brycheiniog,  Gwent,  and  Gwynllwg.  The  next  year  we  read 
of  the  Black  Normans  coming  a  second  time  to  Castle  Baldwin. 

For  the  next  few  years  there  was  comparative  peace.  In 
902,  however,  the  Celtic  victory  over  the  Danes  in  Ireland 
resulted  in  the  Northmen  crossing  the  Irish  Channel  and 
attacking  Anglesey  once  more.  Their  leader,  Hingamund, 
was  beaten  back  by  the  men  of  Anglesey,  and  this  campaign 
of  aggression  seems  to  have  been  abandoned.  The  '  black 

155 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

pagans '  are  next  found  attacking  Chester,  at  that  time  under 
the  control  of  Aethelflaed,  I^ady  of  the  Mercians  and  daughter 
of  Alfred.  She  too  resisted  the  attacks  of  the  Danes,  and  in 
later  years  we  find  her  attacking  and  invading  Brycheiniog, 
storming  the  royal  residence,  and  capturing  the  queen,  who 
was  probably  the  wife  of  Tewdwr  ap  Elise.  In  the  inter- 
vening years  this  most  active  lady  had  protected  her  realm 
from  the  risk  of  Welsh  attacks  by  building  a  chain  of  forts  on 
Mercia's  western  frontier. 

Meanwhile,  in  915,  a  few  months  before  Aethelflaed's 
invasion,  the  Danes  had  appeared  in  the  estuary  of  the  Severn 
and  had  attacked  and  ravaged  southern  Wales.  They  appear 
to  have  pushed  forward  to  the  north,  and  had  almost  reached 
Hereford  when  they  succeeded  in  capturing  a  valuable  prisoner 
in  the  person  of  Cyfeiliog,  Bishop  of  Llandaff.  He  was 
eventually  ransomed  from  captivity  by  Edward  the  Elder, 
who  as  soon  as  the  bishop  was  released  took  steps  to  secure 
the  departure  of  the  pirates.  We  find  them  retiring  to 
Ireland,  passing  through  Dyfed  on  their  way  thither. 

We  have  now  reached  the  year  916.  In  this  year  Anarawd 
of  Gwynedd  died.  His  brothers  had  predeceased  him,  Merfyn 
having  died  in  the  early  years  of  the  tenth  century  and  Cadell 
in  909.  Merfyn  seems  to  have  transmitted  no  royal  inheritance 
to  any  successor.  The  principality  over  which  Cadell  had 
ruled  was  now  divided  between  his  sons  Howel  and  Clydog. 
Gwynedd  owned  as  its  prince  Idwal  the  Bald  ap  Anarawd.  Of 
these  new  princes,  Clydog  died  in  920,50  that  we  haveSeisyllwg, 
and  possibly  Dyfed,  ruled  over  by  Howel,  Gwynedd  by  Idwal 
the  Bald  (Idwal  Voel). 

Henceforward  it  would  appear  that  Seisyllwg  and  Dyfed 
became  merged  in  the  principality  of  Deheubarth.  However 
this  may  be,  it  is  tolerably  certain  that  that  district  was  ruled 
over  by  Howel,  named  Dha,  or  '  the  Good.' 

HOWEL  DHA 

This  prince  is,  perhaps,  of  all  the  Welsh  princes  the  most 
famous— with,  it  may  be,  the  exception  of  L,lywelyn  the  Great 

156 


£  ^ 

'-         >» 

o  G 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    PRINCES 

— and  his  fame  rests  entirely  upon  his  qualities  as  a  law-maker. 
Like  Alfred,  he  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  learning  who 
had  widened  his  outlook  on  life  by  a  journey  to  the  imperial 
city  of  Rome.     This  occurred  about  928.     The  exact  date  is 
uncertain.     In  the  preface  to  the  Dimetian  Code  we  read  : 
"  After  the  law   had  been   made   and  written,   Howel,   ac- 
companied by  Princes  of   Cymru,  and  Lambert,  Bishop  of 
Menevia,  and  Mordav,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  and  Cebur,  Bishop 
of  St.  Asaph,  and  Blegywryd,  Archdeacon  of  Llandaff,  went  to 
Rome  to  Pope  Anastasius  to  read  the  law  and  to  see  if  there 
was  anything  contrary  to  the  law  of  God  in  it ;   and  as  there 
was  nothing  militating  against  it,  it  was  confirmed,  and  was 
called   the   law   of   Howel   Dha   from   that   time   forward." 
Anastasius  III  held  the  papacy  from  911-913.     In  opposition 
to  this  we  find  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes  referring  to  Howel's 
journey   to    Rome    as   taking   place   in    926.     The   Annales 
Cambriae  gives  the  date  as  928.     It  is  hardly  probable  that 
Howel  journeyed  to  Rome  with  his  lawyers  and  laws  in  913, 
since  he  only  succeeded  to  a  half-share  in  his  principality  in 
909.     Taking  all  things  into  consideration,  we  are  inclined  to 
fix  the  date  as  928,  during  the  pontificate  of  Leo  VI.     It  is 
also  highly  probable  that  the  account  of  this  journey  given 
in  the  Welsh  code  is  inaccurate  in  other  ways  besides  the 
date.     There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Howel  did  not  compile 
his  laws  until  he  had  become  king  of  Cymru  in  941  or  942, 
on  the  death  of   Idwal  of  Gwynedd.      Both  the  Venedotian 
and   the  Dimetian  Code  expressly  refer  to   him  as  king  of 
all  Cymru,  and  it   must  be  remembered   that  the  code   of 
Howel   Dha  is  tripartite  and    is   concerned    with   the  laws 
and  customs  of  the  whole   of   Wales,  thus   suggesting   that 
the    prince    who    authorized    the  compilation    had    control 
over    the    part    of    the    country   affected.     On    the    other 
hand,  the  Gwentian  Code  refers  to  him  as  king  of  Cymru 
— a  difference  which  we    might    expect,  since    Howel    was 
never    king    of    Gwent    or   Morgannwg.      If   the  above  be 
correct,  it  is  not  probable  that  Howel's  journey  to  Rome 
had  any  very  intimate  connexion  with   his  laws.     It  was 

157 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

simply  a  journey  undertaken  to  acquire  culture,  learning,  and 
experience. 

Another  sign  that  Howel  was  intellectually  superior  to  most 
of  the  Welsh  princes  of  that  age  is  to  be  found  in  his  dealings 
and  transactions  with  the  court  of  Aethelstan.  It  would 
appear  that  Aethelstan,  after  the  expulsion  of  Guthfred  from 
Northumbria  in  926,  marched  against  the  Welsh.  In  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  we  read  that  he  subjugated  all  the 
kings  who  were  in  this  island,  including  Howel,  king  of  the 
West  Welsh,  and  Owain,  king  of  Gwent.  The  West  Welsh 
were,  of  course,  the  men  of  Cornwall.  The  chronicler  may, 
however,  have  been  wrong  in  so  describing  them.  It  may 
have  been  that  the  Howel  referred  to  was  Howel  of  Deheubarth 
— Howel  Dha.  We  may  take  it  that  Aethelstan  summoned 
the  leading  Welsh  princes  to  Hereford  in  927,  and  imposed 
a  tribute  upon  them  of  gold,  silver,  cattle,  dogs,  and  hawks. 
After  this  time  we  frequently  find  Howel's  signature  appended 
to  grants  made  by  Aethelstan.  Concerning  this  signing  of 
Saxon  grants,  Professor  I/loyd  has  said :  "  It  is  ...  a 
significant  fact  that  Hywel  is  of  all  the  Welsh  princes  the  most 
prominent  in  this  connexion ;  from  928  to  949  his  name  is 
appended  to  every  charter  which  has  Welsh  signatures,  and  is 
among  them  placed  first ;  in  three  cases  he  is  the  only  under- 
king  who  joins  in  the  grant.  He  is  often  supported  by  Idwal 
Foel  and  Morgan  ab  Owain  of  Morgannwg,  and  once  by 
Tewdwr  ab  Elisedd  of  Brycheiniog,  but  no  prince  seems  to 
have  entered  so  heartily  into  Athelstan's  design  of  linking 
Wales  with  England  by  this  system  of  attendance  at  the 
English  court.  All  that  is  known  of  Hywel  points  him  out  as 
a  warm  admirer,  not  only  of  Alfred,  but  also  of  English  civiliza- 
tion. He  led  no  expedition  across  the  border,  but  instead 
secured  to  Athelstan  the  faithful  allegiance  of  his  brother 
chiefs,  even  in  that  year  of  rebellion,  937,  when  the  league 
against  Wessex  included  the  Scots,  the  Danes,  and  the  Strath- 
clyde  Britons,  and  only  the  southern  Britons  held  aloof. 
English  influence  is  manifest  in  the  law  of  Hywel,  and  betrays 
itself  even  in  the  naming  of  his  sons,  for  Edwin  ap  Hywel  Dda 
158 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

bore  an  English  name,  which  was  possibly  given  him  out  of 
compliment  to  the  young  son  of  Edward  the  Elder  who 
perished  in  933."  1 

As  we  have  said,  Howel's  fame  rests  on  his  laws.  These  we 
have  already  considered.  We  are  by  no  means  convinced 
that  they  show  any  great  dependence  on  or  obligation  to  the 
Saxon  dooms.  In  many  ways  the  systems  are  similar,  but 
the  laws  as  we  have  them  (they  were,  of  course,  augmented  in 
the  succeeding  centuries)  are  very  much  fuller  and  more 
developed  than  the  dooms  of  either  Alfred  or  Aethelstan. 
Alfred's  dooms  are,  of  course,  largely  Mosaic.  Aethelstan's 
are  more  valuable  as  mirroring  the  Anglo-Saxon  law.  Neither 
are  to  be  compared  in  fullness  or  in  legal  excellence  with 
Howel's  compilations.  If  Howel  copied  at  all,  we  believe  that 
it  was  from  the  Continental  codes  and  the  Leges  Barbarorum 
rather  than  from  the  dooms  of  contemporary  English  kings. 

Howel's  friendship  with  the  house  of  Aethelstan  stood  him 
in  excellent  stead  during  the  troublous  times  of  942.  In  that 
year  Idwal  Voel,  the  son  of  Anarawd,  revolted  against 
Eadmund,  who  had  succeeded  Aethelstan  on  the  latter's  death 
in  940.  The  result  was  disastrous  to  the  Welsh  prince,  he  and 
his  brother  Elisedd  being  slain  by  the  Saxons  in  battle.  Idwal 
Voel  left  as  heirs  lago  and  Idwal  leuaf  (the  younger).  These 
appear  to  have  been  but  youths,  and  we  find  Howel  (who  was 
probably  supported  by  Wessex)  expelling  them  from  their 
principality  and  claiming  it  for  himself.  Howel  was  now 
king  of  most  of  Wales.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  had 
already  obtained  control  over  Powys.  Morgannwg  and  Gwent 
were  still,  and  remained,  separate  states. 

It  is  this  unification  of  Wales  that  rendered  the  codification 
of  Welsh  laws  and  tribal  customs  practicable.  That  all  the 
laws  now  known  as  the  Laws  of  Howel  Dha  really  date  from 
his  reign  is  more  than  improbable.  Many  of  the  texts  contain 

1  I^loyd,  History  of  Wales,  vol.  i,  pp.  336,  337.  It  will  be  observed  that 
the  names  are  spelt  differently  from  our  text.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
there  is  no  standardization  of  the  spelling  of  Welsh  names.  The  same 
difficulty  is  found  to  a  lesser  degree  in  Anglo-Saxon  names — e.g.  Cnut,  Knut, 
Canute  ;  Ecgbryht  or  Egbert ;  Aethelstan  or  Athelstan,  etc. 

159 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

important  amplifications  dating  from  the  time  of  Rhys  ap 
Gruffydd,  who  died  in  1197.  As  to  one  of  the  codes — the 
Gwentian — it  has  been  suggested  that  it  is  a  compilation  made 
by  Morgeneu  and  his  son  Cyfnerth,  and  was  not  dependent 
for  its  inception  upon  Howel.  However  this  may  be,  it 
is  clear  that  Howel's  laws  formed  the  basis  and  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  finest  code  of  laws  compiled  in  Britain  in  the 
tenth  century.  In  our  opinion  English  law  has  nothing 
to  equal  it  until  the  time  of  Ranulf  de  Glanville,  and 
it  may  be  that  we  should  say  until  the  time  of  Henry 
Bracton.1 

Howel  died  in  950.  On  his  death  Wales  was  once  more 
divided,  and  became  subject  to  various  rulers.  Yet  although 
he  did  not  leave  the  Welsh  a  united  nation  capable  of  remaining 
united,  he  left  them  a  written  code  of  laws  which  could  not  have 
but  made  for  better  government  and  a  better  administration 
of  justice. 

OwAIN 

From  the  death  of  Howel  until  the  accession  of  Maredudd  ap 
Owain  in  986  no  event  stands  out  or  appears  worthy  of  any 
special  mention.  Throughout  the  intervening  years  the 
country  was  in  a  state  of  confusion  owing  to  the  tribal  wars 
fomented  by  the  sons  of  Idwal  Voel  on  the  one  side  and  the 
sons  of  Howel  Dha  on  the  other.  We  have  already  seen  how 
Howel  seized  the  crown  of  Gwynedd  on  the  death  of  Idwal 
Voel  in  the  battle  fought  by  him  against  Eadmund.  At  that 
time  Idwal  Voel's  sons — lago  and  Idwal  leuaf — were  young, 
and  Howel  was  strong  enough  to  override  their  pretensions  to 
their  father's  throne.  On  the  death  of  Howel  the  position  was 
very  different. 

Howel  left  as  sons  to  succeed  him  Rhodri,  Eadwine  (or 
Edwin) ,  and  Owain.  The  first  two  died  in  953  and  954  respec- 
tively, leaving  Owain  sole  successor  to  his  father's  dignities. 

1  The  late  Professor  Maitland  pointed  out  many  years  ago  in  the  Lam 
Quarterly  Review  that  these  Welsh  codes  had  received  far  too  little  attention 
from  students  of  early  law. 

160 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

In  the  meantime — that  is  to  say,  between  the  death  of  Howel 
and  Edwin — the  sons  of  Idwal  Voel  had  defeated  the  sons  of 
Howel  in  the  battle  of  Nant  Carno,  thereby  recovering  the 
principality  of  Gwynedd,  and  possibly  Powys  also.  Following 
this  success  we  find  lago  and  Idwal  leuaf  ravaging  Dyfed,  and 
Owain  retaliating  by  marching  into  North  Wales,  doubtless 
carrying  fire  and  slaughter  through  the  land.  He  was  even- 
tually checked  by  the  defeat  inflicted  upon  him  at  the  battle 
of  Ivlanrwst.  He  and  his  men  retired,  followed  by  the 
victorious  men  of  Gwynedd,  who  in  turn  ravaged  Ceredigion. 
All  this,  of  course,  points  to  a  number  of  petty  squabbles 
between  princelings,  mere  border  raids,  carried  on  by  one 
side  or  the  other  with  varying  success.  To  add  to  the  con- 
fusion we  find  civil  war  breaking  out  in  Gwynedd,  and  Idwal 
leuaf  and  lago  engaging  in  battle.  In  969  Idwal  leuaf  was 
captured  by  lago,  who  caused  him  to  be  blinded,  and  of 
him  we  hear  no  more.  leuaf's  son,  Howel,  avenged  his 
father's  fate  by  capturing  lago  in  979.  Howel  ap  leuaf 
(Howel  Ddrwg,  or  '  the  Bad ')  now  becomes  Prince  of 
Gwynedd.  On  his  death  in  985  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother  Cadwallawn. 

While  all  these  tribal  and  civil  wars  were  in  progress  it  is 
evident  that  the  Saxons  were  ever  ready  to  take  advantage  of 
the  weak  state  of  Wales.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  '  black 
pagans '  were  still  hovering  round  the  Welsh  coast. 

In  965  (perhaps  it  was  968 :  the  various  chronicles  do  not 
agree)  we  read  of  the  English  invading  and  ravaging  Gwynedd. 
On  the  whole,  however,  we  do  not  find  the  king  of  England — 
Edgar  the  Peaceful — taking  any  great  advantage  of  the  dis- 
organized state  of  Wales.  The  princes  of  Wales  had  for  some 
time  acknowledged  the  king  of  Wessex,  and  later  the  king 
of  the  English,  as  overlord.  Edgar  appears  to  have  found 
it  convenient  to  require  the  sub-kings  to  recognize  his  title 
anew.  We  therefore  read  of  his  going  to  Chester  and 
summoning  eight  under-kings  to  swear  fealty  and  do  homage 
to  him.  Of  these  eight  five  were  Welsh.  Afterward,  accord- 
ing to  William  of  Malmesbury,  the  king  caused  these  princes, 

L  161 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

as  a  mark  of  their  vassalage,  to  row  him  in  his  royal  barge 
from  the  palace  at  Chester  to  the  monastery  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  and  from  thence  back  again.  Although  all  this 
must  not  be  accepted  as  quite  accurate  history,  there  is,  perhaps, 
some  truth  behind  it.1  It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that 
Edgar  should  at  this  time  require  fresh  oaths  of  fealty  from 
the  turbulent  Welshmen,  and  there  are  in  existence  several 
examples  of  charters  signed  by  Idwal  leuaf  and  lago  as 
sub-kings  under  him. 

While  the  fratricidal  struggle  was  in  progress  between  lago 
and  leuaf  in  Gwynedd,  Owain  of  Deheubarth  appears  to  have 
cast  covetous  eyes  upon  Morgannwg  and  Gwent.  We  read  of 
certain  raids  and  skirmishes,  but  the  engagements  seem  to 
have  been  unimportant  and  to  have  had  no  lasting  result.  In 
one  of  the  encounters  we  read  of  the  death  of  one  of  Owain's 
sons,  Einion. 

We  have  now  reached  the  year  986.  Owain  was  by  this 
time  an  old  man,  unfitted  for  the  burdens  of  kingship  in  such 
troublous  times.  We  therefore  find  him  abdicating  in  favour 
of  his  son  Maredudd. 

MAREDUDD  AP  OWAIN 

Maredudd  ap  Owain  seems  to  have  been  an  energetic  and 
valiant  prince.  At  the  very  commencement  of  his  reign  he 
won  a  signal  victory  over  Cadwallawn  ap  leuaf,  with  the  result 
that  Gwynedd  and  Deheubarth  were  united  once  more  under 
one  ruler.  Apparently  Dyfed  and  Gwyr  were  also  under  his 
control,  in  which  case  it  may  be  that  the  encounter  in  which 
Einion  lost  his  life  was  more  important  than  we  have  given  it 
credit  for  being. 

Maredudd's  chief  concern  during  his  short  reign  (986-999) 

1  The  story,  with  variations,  comes  from  many  sources.  It  is  mentioned 
in  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  (Caerleon-upon-Usk  is  given  as  the  meeting- place) 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  (which  places  the  incident  at  Chester),  as 
well  as  by  Florence  of  Worcester  (again  Chester  is  the  place  suggested).  Aelfric 
in  his  life  of  St.  Swithin  confirms  it  by  inference.  In  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  ceremony  was  probably  connected  with  Edgar's  coronation  at  Bath  it  may 
be  that  Caerleon-upon-Usk  was  the  place  of  meeting. 
l62 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

appears  to  have  been  the  '  black  pagans.'  In  988  we  read 
of  his  ransoming  captives  at  the  rate  of  id.  per  person.  Three 
years  before  this  we  read  that  "  Godfrey,  son  of  Harold,  with 
the  black  host,  devastated  the  Isle  of  Mona,  and  2000  men 
were  blinded  [Annales  Cambriae  =  captured],  and  the  re- 
mainder Maredudd,  son  of  Owain,  took  with  him  to  Ceredigion 
and  Dyved."  This  seems  to  point  to  a  wholesale  evacuation 
of  Anglesey.  It  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  some  of  these 
2000  captives  (we  discredit  the  entry  in  the  Brut  relating  to 
the  blinding  of  the  men)  whom  Maredudd  in  later  years 
redeemed.  In  990  we  read  that  "  Eadwine,  son  of  Einion,  with 
Edis  the  Great,  a  Saxon  prince  from  the  seas  of  the  south, 
devastated  all  the  kingdoms  of  Maredudd,  to  wit,  Dyved,  and 
Ceredigion,  and  Gower  [Gwyr],  and  Cydweli;  and  a  second 
time  took  hostages  from  all  the  territory  ;  and  devastated 
Menevia  a  third  time."  Who  Edis  the  Great  may  have  been 
we  do  not  know,  but  the  combination  of  Welshman  and  Saxon 
seems  to  have  pressed  heavily  upon  Maredudd,  for  we  find 
him  adopting  the  extraordinary  policy  of  "  hiring  the  pagans 
willing  to  join  him  "  in  order  to  beat  back  his  enemies.  With 
these  pagan  auxiliaries  we  read  of  his  devastating  Morgannwg. 
In  993  retribution  came  for  this  unholy  alliance  and  the 
spoiling  of  Morgannwg,  for  in  that  year  Maredudd's  territories 
were  laid  waste  by  plague,  and  while  his  kingdom  was  still 
staggering  from  this  misfortune  its  king  was  attacked  and 
defeated  by  the  sons  of  Meurig  (a  dispossessed  prince  of 
Gwynedd) . 

During  all  these  years  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Danes 
were  almost  certainly  harassing  the  coast- line.  In  994  we  find 
Sweyn,  a  Danish  leader,  laying  waste  the  Isle  of  Man  ;  this  was 
doubtless  but  one  of  several  similar  excursions.  Maredudd's 
reign  must  have  been  a  singularly  troublous  one,  containing  as 
it  did  attacks  by  the  Danes  and  the  Saxons,  Edwin  ap  Einion 
and  the  sons  of  Meurig  ap  Idwal  Voel  of  Gwynedd,  and,  last — 
and  probably  worst — the  plague.  With  his  death  his  kingdom, 
wasted  by  these  numerous  misfortunes  and  attacks,  relapsed 
into  a  state  of  anarchy. 

163 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

LLYWELYN  AP  SEISYLL 

We  propose  to  say  very  little  of  the  succeeding  decade. 
Gwynedd  returned  to  the  old  dynasty  of  Cunedda,  Conan, 
grandson  of  Idwal  leuaf ,  recovering  that  principality  from  the 
house  of  Deheubarth. 

As  to  Deheubarth,  it  seems  to  have  fallen  into  a  completely 
disorganized  state.  Maredudd  had  died  leaving  no  sons.  The 
progeny  of  his  elder  brother,  Einion,  were,  on  the  other  hand, 
numerous.  The  eldest  of  these,  Edwin,  had  in  Maredudd's 
lifetime  made  several  attempts  to  recapture  the  throne. 
These  attempts  not  improbably  continued  against  Maredudd's 
heiress,  Angharad,  and  her  husband,  Llywelyn  ap  Seisyll. 

It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  occupant  of  the  precarious 
throne  of  Deheubarth  had  to  fear  the  claims  of  pretenders 
more  than  what,  to  us,  look  like  the  legitimate  demands  of 
Edwin,  his  brothers  or  descendants.  lylywelyn  himself  could 
boast  of  no  title  to  the  principality  save  through  his  wife, 
and  consequently  it  was  upon  his  own  right  arm  that  he  had 
to  rely. 

Pretender  after  pretender  now  arose.  The  first,  Aeddan  ap 
Blegywryd,  laid  claim  to  the  crown  of  Gwynedd.  He  appears 
to  have  been  successful,  but  was  eventually  defeated  in  battle 
and  killed,  with  his  four  sons.  This  occurred  in  1018,  and 
established  Llywelyn's  claim  to  Gwynedd. 

Another  of  these  pretenders  was  Rhydderch  ap  lestyn,  who 
was,  however,  somewhat  later  in  date,  and  appears  to  have 
captured  Deheubarth  in  1023,  and  retained  control  thereof  for 
ten  years.  In  the  meantime  we  read  in  the  Chronicles  of  the 
Princes,  under  date  1020,  that  "  A  certain  Scot  falsely  pretended 
to  be  the  son  of  King  Maredudd,  and  caused  himself  to  be 
named  king  ;  and  the  men  of  the  south  received  him  as  their 
lord,  and  to  a  kingdom ;  and  his  name  was  Rein.  And 
Llywelyn,  son  of  Seisyll,  supreme  King  of  Gwynedd,  and  the 
chief  and  most  renowned  king  of  all  the  Britons,  made  war 
against  him.  In  his  time  it  was  usual  for  the  elders  of  his 
kingdom  to  say  that  his  dominion  was  from  one  sea  to  the 
164 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

other  ;  complete  in  abundance  of  wealth  and  inhabitants ;  so 
that  it  was  supposed  there  was  neither  poor  nor  destitute  in 
all  his  territories,  nor  an  empty  hamlet,  nor  any  deficiency. 
And  then  Rein  the  Scot  boldly  led  on  his  host,  and,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Scots,  proudly  and  ostentatiously  exhorted  his 
men  to  fight,  confidently  promising  them  that  he  should 
conquer,  and  so  he  boldly  approached  his  enemies,  and  they 
coolly  and  fearlessly  awaited  that  vaunting  and  arrogant 
challenger.  He,  daring  and  fearless,  repaired  to  the  conflict, 
and  after  the  battle  was  fought,  with  a  general  slaughter  on 
both  sides,  and  constant  fighting,  through  the  bravery  of  the 
Gwyneddians,  victory  was  obtained  over  Rein  the  Scot  and 
his  host.  And  as  it  is  proverbially  said,  '  Excite  thy  dog, 
but  do  not  pursue ' ;  he  assaulted  bravely  and  fearlessly, 
and  retreated  shamefully  in  a  fox-like  manner.  And  the 
Gwyneddians  wrathfully  pursued  him,  slaying  his  men,  and 
devastating  the  country,  pillaging  every  place  and  destroying 
it  as  far  as  Mercia ;  and  he  never  from  henceforward  made 
his  appearance." 

This  victory  at  Abergwyli,  in  conjunction  with  the  earlier 
defeat  of  Aeddan,  gave  to  lylywelyn  the  supreme  power  in 
Wales.  He  was  not  destined  to  enjoy  for  long  the  high 
position  his  resource  had  won  for  him,  for  he  lived  but  two 
years  after  the  defeat  of  the  Scot. 

It  will  doubtless  have  been  observed  by  the  reader  that  the 
reign  of  lylywelyn  is  represented  by  the  chronicler  in  glowing 
terms  as  a  sort  of  Golden  Age  of  plenty  and  prosperity.  It  is 
not  possible  to  say  at  this  distance  of  time  whether  this  was  so 
or  not.  It  is  certain  that  the  throne  of  Gwynedd  was  made 
during  this  time  the  bone  of  contention  between  several 
persons.  This,  however,  may  have  had  but  little  effect  on 
the  general  prosperity  of  the  people.  We  believe  that  these 
dynastic  (if  such  a  word  can  be  used)  struggles  were  mainly 
family  feuds,  very  limited  in  extent.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Wales  for  the  first  time  for 
centuries  enjoyed  a  complete  freedom  from  Saxon  attack. 
During  the  years  978-1016  the  throne  of  England  was 

165 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

occupied  by  the  semi-lunatic  Aethelred  the  Redeless,  who  was 
too  busy  mismanaging  his  kingdom  and  too  much  occupied  in 
losing  it  completely  to  the  Danes  to  have  any  time  for  harassing 
the  Welsh.  This  breathing-space  no  doubt  enabled  Wales  to 
become  more  prosperous.  Had  Cymru  possessed  but  one 
great  leader  during  those  years  of  external  peace,  he  might 
have  united  the  broken  links ;  he  might  have  welded  a  bond 
of  unity  which  would  have  enabled  the  Welsh  to  stand  side 
by  side  in  vigorous  resistance  of,  first,  the  Danes  and,  later, 
the  Normans.  Unfortunately,  Wales  throughout  its  early 
history  was  cursed  with  a  tribal  system  which  practically 
made  unity  impossible.  The  old  evil,  then,  lived  on.  For 
a  few  years  Llywelyn  was  king  of  Wales — and  then  again 
disruption. 

Although  it  is  probable,  as  we  have  said,  that  Wales  enjoyed 
peace  on  its  eastern  borders  during  the  reign  of  Aethelred,  the 
tale  was  very  different  on  the  sea-coast.  Time  after  time  the 
Danish  pirates  beat  down  on  the  coast  of  Wales.  Professor 
Lloyd  sums  up  the  position  admirably,  and  we  content  ourselves 
with  a  quotation  from  his  History  of  Wales  :  "It  was  unusual 
during  the  half-century  between  950  and  1000  for  more  than 
five  years  to  pass  without  a  Danish  attack  upon  some  quarter 
of  Wales  important  enough  to  be  recorded  in  some  chronicle 
of  the  time.  Anglesey,  Lleyn,  Dyfed/and  the  shores  of  the 
Severn  especially  suffered  from  this  scourge,  but  no  part  of 
the  coast  was  wholly  secure.  As  in  the  ninth  century,  the 
raiders  were  chiefly  attracted  by  the  plunder  of  the  monas- 
teries ;  the  sack  of  AberfFraw,  the  royal  seat  of  Gwynedd,  in 
968  stands  alone,  for  the  other  places  said  to  have  been  raided 
by  the  foreigners  were  all  the  sites  of  important  churches. 
Holy  head  was  despoiled  in  961,  Towyn  in  963,  Penmon  in  971, 
Clynnog  in  978,  Mynyn  (St.  David's)  in  982,  988,  and  999,  and 
in  988  a  whole  series  of  sanctuaries,  including  Llanbadarn 
Fawr,  lylandudoch  (St.  Dogmael's),  I/lanilltud,  and  I^lancarfan." 
Continuing,  he  adds  :  "  Magnus,  or  Maccus,  son  of  Harold  .  .  . 
in  971  made  a  descent  upon  Penmon,  while  his  brother  Godfrey, 
who  succeeded  him  about  977,  appears  on  four  occasions  as 
166 


THE    PERIOD    OF   THE    PRINCES 

the  leader  of  a  flotilla  bound  for  Wales  in  pursuit  of  booty. 
In  972  he  ravaged  Anglesey ;  in  980  he  helped  Cystennin  ab 
lago  in  an  attack  upon  the  same  island,  which  was  directed 
against  Hywel  [Howel]  ab  leuaf  ;  in  982  he  invaded  Dyfed ; 
in  987  he  and  his  Danish  host,  in  a  third  irruption  into  Anglesey, 
won  a  victory  over  the  Welsh,  the  fame  of  which — for  a 
thousand  of  the  enemy  were  left  dead  on  the  field  and  two 
thousand  carried  into  captivity — penetrated  to  Ireland,  and 
was  thought  worthy  to  be  preserved  in  the  annals  of  that 
country." 

As  we  have  seen,  I^lywelyn,  having  frustrated  the  attempts 
of  Edwin  to  seize  the  throne  of  Deheubarth,  had  early  made 
good  his  right  to  succeed  Maredudd.  His  conquest  of 
Gwynedd  from  the  pretender  who  followed  Conan  ap  Howel 
ap  Idwal  leuaf  did  not  take  place,  however,  until  1018,  and 
five  years  later  he  died.  For  the  next  sixteen  years  (1023- 
1039)  we  have  presented  to  us  the  spectacle  common  in  Welsh 
history  of  various  claimants  to  the  throne  fighting  furiously 
among  themselves.  In  the  north  lago  of  the  house  of  Rhodri 
Mawr  succeeded  in  asserting  his  rightful  claim,  and  seems  to 
have  ruled  in  peace  until  1039,  when,  as  we  shall  see,  he  was 
succeeded  by  Gruffydd  ap  lylywelyn.  In  the  south  there  was 
continuous  conflict  between  the  families  of  Bdwin,  Seisyll,  and 
Rhydderch.  In  1027  Conan  ap  Seisyll  was  killed.  Six  years 
later  Rhydderch  ap  lestyn,  who  had  usurped  the  princely 
power,  was  slain  by  the  Scots,  and  Howel  and  Maredudd,  sons 
of  Edwin,  ruled  over  Deheubarth.  In  1032  we  find  the  battle 
of  Hiraethwg  taking  place  between  these  two  princes  and  the 
descendants  of  Rhydderch,  and  in  the  year  following  Maredudd 
was  killed  by  the  sons  of  Conan,  and  Caradog  ap  Rhydderch 
was  put  to  death  by  the  Saxons.  Matters  were,  indeed, 
drifting  toward  anarchy  when  Gruffydd  made  good  his  claim 
to  Gwynedd  in  1039.  With  the  entry  of  this  prince  on  the 
stage  of  our  history  we  have  to  deal  with  events  of  greater 
importance  than  have  occupied  us  for  some  time. 


167 


CHAPTER  X 

GRUFFYDD  AP  LLYWELYN 

(1039 1-1063) 

G2.UFFYDD  AP  U,YWELYN,  a  descendant  of 
Roderick  the  Great,  came  on  his  mother's  side  from 
the  royal  house  of  Deheubarth.  His  father,  I4ywelyn 
ap  Seisyll,  was  not  improbably  a  Prince  of  Powys  before  he 
succeeded  in  making  good  his  claim  to  Deheubarth  and 
Gwynedd.  On  the  death  of  Llywelyn,  who  had  no  hereditary 
claim  to  either  Deheubarth  or  Gwynedd,  we  find  both  those 
principalities  returning  to  descendants  of  the  ancient  houses. 
In  the  north,  as  we  have  seen,  lago,  a  great-grandson  of  Idwal 
Voel,  was  chosen  as  prince.  In  the  south,  after  the  death  of 
Rhydderch,  Deheubarth  was  divided  between  Howel  and 
Maredudd,  the  two  elder  sons  of  Edwin  ap  Einion. 

Gruffydd's  first  step  to  greatness  was  taken  over  the  corpse 
of  lago,  who,  in  1039,  was  murdered  by  his  own  men,  as  some 
say.  Since  there  is  nothing  in  lago's  reign  to  lead  one  to 
expect  such  a  heinous  crime  (treachery  to  a  man  of  one's  kin 
was  looked  upon  with  the  utmost  loathing  and  contempt),  the 
account  given  of  his  death  in  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes  and 
the  Annales  Cambriae  seems  to  us  more  probable.  There  we 
read  that  lestyn  ap  Gwrgant,  having  ravished  Gruffydd's 
cousin,  Ardden  vz  Robert  ap  Seisyll,  fled  to  lago,  who  gave 
him  his  protection.  Gruffydd  was  of  all  men  then  living 
about  the  very  last  to  tolerate  such  an  insult.  A  man  of  fiery 
passions  himself,  he  was  capable  of  slaying  a  husband  to  seize 

1  Our  authorities  for  the  dates  in  this  reign  are  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales 
and  Plutnmer's  Saxon  Chronicles.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  dates 
given  in  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  are  a  year  or  two  too  early. 

168 


GRUFFYDD    AP    LLYWELYN 

the  wife — as  he  did  two  years  later — but  he  would  be  the 
first  to  resent  such  an  action  on  the  part  of  another.  Violent, 
cruel,  jealous,  and  passionate,  he  was  at  the  same  time  brave, 
politic,  and  a  great  believer  in  his  own  dignity.  The  story  is 
told  1  of  how  Gruffydd  and  Edward  the  Confessor  when  about 
to  meet  to  settle  a  treaty  of  peace  found  themselves  on 
opposite  banks  of  the  Severn.  Neither  would  cross  first,  since 
to  do  so  would  be  to  acknowledge  inferiority.  We  pause  to 
point  out  that  Gruffydd  was  here  overstraining  his  dignity. 
Edward  finally  grew  tired  of  the  senseless  delay  and  com- 
menced to  cross.  Gruffydd,  who  must  have  known  that 
precedence  lay  with  Edward,  completely  overwhelmed  by  his 
opponent's  courtesy,  plunged  into  the  stream,  and  on  reaching 
the  boat  carrying  the  English  king  embraced  it  and  carried  its 
royal  burden  to  shore  on  his  shoulders. 

A  man  of  this  proud  nature  was  not  one  to  tolerate  dis- 
honour to  a  lady  of  his  house.  We  therefore  read  of  his 
marshalling  an  army,  attacking  lago,  defeating  and  slaying 
him,  and  seizing  his  territory.  Thus  once  more  in  the  tale  of 
history  a  state  was  lost  and  won  because  of  a  woman's  looks 
and  a  man's  folly. 

This  occurred  about  1039.  Gruffydd  was  now  Prince  of 
Powys  and  Gwynedd.  He  had,  therefore,  the  whole  of  north 
and  north-east  and  central  Wales  under  his  control,  and 
he  appears  to  have  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  tilt  at  the 
Saxons.  In  the  same  year  he  surprised  and  attacked  the 
Mercian  army  near  Welshpool  (Rhyd  y  Groes,  on  the  Severn, 
was  the  actual  place  of  combat).  The  defeat  thus  inflicted 
seems  to  have  been  an  important  one.  It  would  appear  from 
the  nature  of  the  entry  in  the  Brut  that  this  campaign  was 
connected  with  some  earlier  offensive  movements  against 
Deheubarth,  and  that  the  South  Wales  men  had  called  in 
Mercian  aid.  Of  this  we  cannot  speak  with  confidence,  but 
we  find  Gruffydd  after  the  battle  of  Rhyd  y  Groes  "  depopulat- 
ing "  I/lanbadarn  and  driving  Howel,  king  of  Deheubarth,  from 
his  realm.  This  Howel  had  been  left  as  sole  king  of  Deheubarth 

1  Walter  Map  is  responsible  for  this  tale. 

169 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

by  the  early  death  of  his  younger  brother,  Maredudd,  in  1035. 
For  the  next  few  years  Gruffydd  was  engaged  in  bringing 
about  his  complete  overthrow. 

In  1041  Gruffydd's  third  great  battle  was  fought  at  Pen 
Cadeir,  or  Pencader.  Howel  was  defeated.  We  read  that 
Gruffydd  seized  his  rival's  wife  "  and  took  her  as  his  wife." 
This  lady,  who,  according  to  Walter  Map,  was  most  delight- 
fully beautiful,1  was  not  yet  a  widow.  Howel,  though  defeated, 
was  still  alive  and  still  had  command  over  certain  parts  of  his 
possessions.  In  1042  we  find  him  (Howel)  beating  back  the 
Danes  at  Pwll  Dyfach,  near  Caermarthen.  Soon  afterward 
he  appears  to  have  found  it  necessary  to  fly  from  his  native 
land.  In  1044,  however,  we  read  of  his  returning  to  Deheu- 
barth,  "  accompanied  by  a  fleet  of  the  people  of  Ireland." 
These  auxiliaries  had  evidently  been  raised  to  enable  him  to 
recover  from  Gruffydd  the  prizes  he  had  won.  The  two  met 
in  battle  at  Aber  Tywi,  and  Howel  was  slain. 

STRUGGLE  FOR  DEHEUBARTH 

Gruffydd  was  now  master  of  practically  the  whole  of  Wales. 
He  was  not,  however,  allowed  to  remain  long  in  peaceful 
enjoyment  of  Deheubarth. 

It  will  perhaps  be  remembered  that  one  of  the  successful 
usurpers  of  the  throne  of  Deheubarth  was  Rhydderch  ap 
lestyn.  He  had  been  killed  in  battle  about  1033,  and  it  was 
then  that  the  succession  reverted  to  the  line  of  Roderick  in 
the  persons  of  Howel  and  Maredudd.  Maredudd,  as  we  have 
seen,  died  soon  afterward. 

Although  Rhydderch  was  slain  in  1033,  his  line  was  by  no 
means  exterminated.  With  the  death  of  Howel  we  find 
Gruffydd  ap  Rhydderch  laying  claim  to  the  principality  which 
had  been  his  father's.  The  two  Gruffydds  were  now  in  open 
opposition.  Local  feeling  seems  to  have  been  on  the  side  of 
the  son  of  Rhydderch.  At  least  we  find  Gruffydd  ap  Llywelyn 
so  hard  pressed  that  in  1046  he  called  in  Saxon  aid  in  the 
person  of  Karl  Sweyn.  Peace  followed,  though  the  new 

1  Map  may  have  been  referring  to  Gruffydd's  later  bride. 
170 


GRUFFYDD    AP    LLYWELYN 

claimant  was  by  no  means  disposed  of.  In  the  next  year 
GrufFydd  ap  I/lywelyn  was  surprised  and  all  but  captured  and 
slain  by  the  chiefs  of  Ystrad  Tywi.  He  replied  by  devastating 
Ystrad  Tywi  and  Dyfed. 

Although  this  looks  as  if  Gruffydd  ap  Llywelyn  had  the 
better  of  the  conflict,  it  would  seem  that  he  must  have  suffered 
some  serious  reverse  of  which  we  know  nothing.  It  is  clear 
that  for  many  years  it  was  Gruffydd  ap  Rhydderch  and  not 
I,lywelyn's  son  who  ruled  over  Deheubarth.  Gruffydd  ap 
Rhydderch  seems,  indeed,  to  have  played  the  part  of  prince 
with  intelligence,  if  not  with  nobility.  We  find  him  deflecting 
the  Danish  raids  from  his  own  coast  to  the  nearest  English 
towns.  We  may  even  suspect  him  of  taking  a  hand  in  the 
plundering  of  his  Saxon  neighbours. 

In  1052  Gruffydd  ap  Llywelyn  reappears  on  the  scene.  In 
the  intervening  years  important  events  had  taken  place 
on  the  eastern  boundaries  of  Wales.  Earl  Sweyn  had  been 
driven  from  Hereford,  and  his  place  had  been  taken  by  Ralph, 
Edward  the  Confessor's  nephew.  With  him  many  important 
Normans  had  come  (Ralph  was  of  Norman  birth  on  his 
father's  side),  and  Norman  castles  were  beginning  to  spring  up. 
Gruffydd  no  doubt  viewed  with  anger  this  presence  of  a  new 
and  powerful  group  of  nobles.  We  find  him  about  1052 
indulging  in  a  raid  upon  Herefordshire.  Nothing  important 
came  of  this  expedition,  but  it  was  in  truth  the  commence- 
ment of  the  long  struggle  against  the  Norman  marcher 
lords.1  The  Normans  were  at  first  defeated.  In  a  battle 
fought  at  Leominster  Gruffydd  was  victorious.  A  few  years 
hence  he  was  to  win  a  far  more  signal  victory  over  the 
new-comers. 

From  the  return  of  Gruffydd  to  his  people,  loaded  with 
spoil  as  the  result  of  this  successful  foray,  we  may  date  the 
commencement  of  the  struggle  which  was  to  make  Gruffydd 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  Earl  Harold's  many  opponents 
and  render  necessary,  in  subsequent  years,  the  combination 

1  Of  course  the  serious  straggle  did  not  commence  until  after  the  Norman 
Conquest. 

171 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

of  many  forces  before  the  brave  Welsh  chieftain  was  at  last 
laid  low. 

GRUFFYDD  SUPREME  IN  WALES 

In  1055  Gruffydd's  power  was  further  strengthened  by  the 
overthrow  of  Gruffydd  ap  Rhydderch.  This  gave  him  Deheu- 
barth,  and  not  improbably  Gwent  also.  Thus  we  now  find 
him  truly  Prince  of  Wales.  His  position  was  for  another  reason 
stronger  than  that  of  any  previous  British  chieftain  since  the 
days  of  Cadwallawn,  perhaps  we  should  say  since  the  time  of 
the  Romans.  He  was  fortunate  in  having  for  his  eastern  neigh- 
bour an  earl  who  was  at  once  powerful  and  in  need  of  an  ally. 
Leofric  of  Mercia,  the  husband  of  the  famous  Lady  Godiva, 
had  quarrelled  with  the  house  of  Karl  Godwine,  now  repre- 
sented by  Harold,  who  was  becoming  the  most  powerful  earl 
in  England.  Earl  Godwine  had,  as  is  well  known,  been 
banished,  and  on  his  fall  Aelfgar,  son  of  Earl  Leofric,  was 
given  the  East  Anglian  earldom.  With  the  return  to  power 
of  Godwine's  son  a  natural  enmity  arose  between  the  families 
of  the  possessor  and  the  dispossessed,  which  was  not  healed 
by  the  surrender  by  Aelfgar  of  the  forfeited  earldom.  Shortly 
after  Harold  became  Earl  of  Wessex  we  find  Aelfgar  accused 
of  treason  and  outlawed. 

This  was  in  1055,  the  same  year  that  saw  Gruffydd  prince  of 
all  Wales.  It  was  not  entirely  unnatural,  despite  the  ancient 
rivalry  between  Mercian  and  Welshman,  for  Aelfgar  in  this 
time  of  need  to  turn  for  help  to  his  western  neighbour.  Nor 
did  he  content  himself  with  this  alone,  for  we  find  him  also 
seeking  aid  from  the  Danes.  The  combination  thus  formed 
must  have  been  a  very  strong  one,  and  in  the  result  it  would 
appear  that  the  Welsh  prince  was  far  from  being  the  weakest 
of  the  allies. 

The  first  and  final  adventure  of  the  combined  forces  was  the 
attack  upon  Hereford,  an  attack  so  boldly  conceived,  so  admir- 
ably carried  out,  and  so  convincing  in  its  result  that  almost 
without  a  further  struggle  peace  was  made,  Aelfgar  being 
restored  and  much  land  granted  to  Gruffydd. 
172 


GRUFFYDD    AP    LLYWELYN 

The  combatants  at  the  fight  at  Hereford  were  Gruffydd 
and  Earl  Aelfgar  on  the  one  side,  and  Earl  Ralph,  son  of  the 
Count  of  Vexin  and  nephew  to  King  Edward,  on  the  other. 
The  allies  marched  to  the  plunder  of  Hereford  ;  they  were  met 
about  two  miles  outside  the  city  by  the  Norman  earl.  The 
actual  combat  appears  to  have  been  of  short  duration.  Earl 
Ralph  and  his  men  were  scattered ;  their  lines  were  entirely 
broken,  and  the  allies  rushed  the  city,  capturing  the  castle  by 
a  surprise  attack  with  very  little  difficulty.  Hereford  itself, 
including  its  cathedral,  was  fired,  after  the  allies  had  removed 
such  valuables  as  they  cared  to  carry  away. 

This  was  a  serious  blow  struck  against  the  prestige  and 
dignity  of  the  English  king.  Some  small  attempt  was  made 
to  send  a  punitive  force  against  Wales.  It  was  totally  un- 
successful, and  the  year  was  too  far  advanced  for  a  lengthy 
campaign.  Peace  was  therefore  patched  up,  as  we  have  already 
stated — a  peace  which  from  its  nature  and  from  the  place  of 
meeting  may  be  called  the  Truce  of  Billingsley. 

As  soon  as  the  winter  was  over  this  truce  was  torn  up,  and 
the  English  are  found  attacking  Gruffydd.  The  leader  of  the 
invading  force  was  Bishop  I^eofgar,  who  was  doubtless  anxious 
to  avenge  the  burning  of  Hereford  Cathedral  and  the  murder 
of  its  seven  canons.  The  bishop  seems  to  have  been  more  of 
a  soldier  than  a  cleric,  but,  unfortunately  for  him  and  his 
army,  less  of  a  soldier  than  was  Gruffydd.  The  armies  met 
on  June  16,  1056,  and  the  result  was  once  again  a  decisive 
victory  for  the  Welsh  prince.  The  bishop  was  slain  and  his 
army  retreated  in  disorder.  Again  an  attempt  was  made  to 
send  an  effective  punitive  expedition  against  Gruffydd  ;  again 
it  failed,  and  again  peace  was  made. 

In  the  following  year  Gruffydd's  ally,  Aelfgar,  succeeded  his 
father  as  Earl  of  Mercia,  and  we  find  Gruffydd  strengthening 
the  ties  which  bound  them  together  by  his  marriage  with  the 
Lady  Godiva's  beautiful  granddaughter,  Ealdgyth,  daughter 
of  Aelfgar.1 

Gruffydd's  next  military  move  would  appear  to  have  been 

1  This  is  perhaps  the  lady  of  whom  Map  speaks  in  such  glowing  terms. 

173 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

in  1058.  In  the  Brut  we  read  that  in  that  year  *  "  Magnus, 
son  of  Harold,  King  of  Germany,  came  to  England  and  ravaged 
the  dominions  of  the  Saxons,  Gruffydd  aiding  him  as  conductor 
and  auxiliary."  This  was  Magnus,  son  of  Harold  Hardrada  of 
Norway.  The  confederation  probably  took  place  in  order  to 
give  aid  a  second  time  to  Aelfgar. 

GRUFFYDD'S  DECLINE  IN  POWER 

In  1062  Earl  Aelfgar  died.  With  his  death  Gruffydd  became 
once  more  open  to  attack  from  Mercia.  Aelfgar's  successor, 
who  was  a  youth,  seems  to  have  been  unable  to  render  the 
aid  given  by  his  father.  Consequently  from  the  death  of  the 
Mercian  earl  we  must  date  the  commencement  of  Gruffydd's 
decline.  The  downward  path  once  taken,  Gruffydd's  descent 
was  swift.  His  death  was  a  sorry  ending  to  a  vigorous  career, 
for  he  was  slain  by  his  own  men  in  the  year  following. 

The  events  which  led  up  to  this  miserable  end  centre  around 
Earl  Harold.  He  seems  to  have  regarded  Gruffydd  with 
peculiar  malignity,  so  that  we  find  him  in  1063  planning  the 
surprise  and  murder  of  the  Welsh  prince  in  his  own  palace  at 
Rhuddlan.  The  move  was  certainly  a  bold  one.  Harold's 
purpose  was  to  push  right  through  North  Wales  from  Chester 
with  a  small  bodyguard  in  order  to  catch  his  enemy  unpre- 
pared. The  attempt  failed  in  its  main  purpose.  Gruffydd 
escaped  by  sea ;  but  his  palace  was  burnt,  almost  about  his 
ears,  and  the  adventure  must  have  destroyed  his  prestige  to  a 
very  large  degree. 

Harold  was  not,  however,  content  with  the  burning  of  his 
rival's  house  or  with  the  reduction  of  his  rival's  fame.  He 
had  clearly  determined  that  Gruffydd  and  peace  could  not 
live  together.  For  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  the  downfall 
of  his  enemy  we  find  Harold  arranging  with  Tostig,  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  a  large  and  well-developed  scheme  for  the 
invasion  of  Wales  and  the  final  overthrow  of  Gruffydd.  Tostig 
was  to  advance  from  the  north,  probably  by  way  of  Chester, 

1  In  the  Brut  and  Annales  Cambriae  the  entry  is  under  date  1056.     These 
dates,  as  we  have  said,  are  a  year  or  two  in  arrear. 

174 


GRUFFYDD    AP    LLYWELYN 

while  Harold  collected  his  men  at  Bristol.  Both  armies 
mainly  consisted  of  light  cavalry — the  type  of  military  force 
best  suited  for  campaigning  in  a  country  where  rapid  move- 
ment over  difficult  ground  was  essential  to  success.  With 
the  appearance  of  this  formidable  army  at  its  gates  the  men 
of  Wales  showed  their  old  weakness.  We  strongly  suspect 
that  most  of  these  disputes  were  quarrels  which  interested 
and  affected  the  ruling  houses  only,  and  did  not  touch  very 
closely  the  people  of  Wales.  However  this  may  be,  we  find 
the  men  of  Deheubarth  seceding.  They  made  terms  with 
Harold  and  renounced  their  allegiance  to  Gruffydd.  In  justice 
to  the  Welsh  race  it  must  be  remembered  that  Gruffydd  was 
Prince  of  Deheubarth,  not  by  right,  but  by  force. 

This  loss  of  about  one-third  of  his  supporters  was  a  great 
blow  to  the  Welsh  leader.  We  find  Harold  harassing  the 
whole  of  North  Wales,  driving  Gruffydd  from  one  place  of 
refuge  to  another,  and  ravaging,  without  doubt,  the  country 
through  which  he  had  to  pass.  The  men  of  North  Wales,  so 
proud  of  their  leader  in  the  days  of  his  prosperity,  so  ready  to 
acclaim  him  with  shouts  of  triumph  when  he  led  them  to 
victory  and  returned  with  them  loaded  with  the  sack  of  the 
cities  he  had  reduced,  now,  in  the  time  of  his  need,  basely 
deserted  him.  He  was  murdered  by  his  own  followers,  and 
his  head  was  sent  to  Harold  as  a  peace-offering.  Thus,  in  the 
words  of  the  chronicler,  "  Gruffydd  ap  I4ywelyn,  the  head  and 
shield  and  defender  of  the  Britons,  fell  through  the  treachery 
of  his  own  men.  The  man  who  had  been  hitherto  invincible 
was  now  left  in  the  glens  of  desolation." 

RESULTS  OF  GRUFFYDD  AP  LLYWELYN'S  REIGN 

In  estimating  the  importance  of  Gruffydd's  reign,  one  of 
the  best  tests  to  take  is  the  amount  of  territory  which  he 
succeeded  in  recovering  for  his  country.  From  this  point  of 
view  the  results  of  Gruffydd's  many  victories  have  been  most 
admirably  stated  by  Professor  Lloyd,  from  whose  history  we 
again  intend  to  quote.  Thus  he  says  : 1  "  Rhuddlan  on  the 

1  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  366. 

175 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Clywd,  which  had  once  been  held  by  the  Earls  of  Mercia,  was 
in  1063  a  royal  seat  of  Gruffydd's.  .  .  .  The  whole  country 
from  here  to  the  vale  of  Maelor,  as  far  as  Wat's  Dyke  to  the 
east,  had  been  cleared  by  Gruffydd  of  its  English  settlers,  who 
no  longer  tilled  the  fields  of  Preston  (Prestatyn),  Merton 
(Mertyn),  Whitford,  Bruncot  (Broncoed),  and  Hope.  At 
Bishopstree  (Bistre)  he  had  another  residence,  to  which  his 
vassals  in  the  region  of  the  Alun  brought  their  dues  of  beer, 
butter,  and  the  like.  The  Maelor  district  had  for  many  years 
formed  the  English  hundred  of  Exestan,  and  in  958  King 
Edgar  of  Mercia  is  recorded  to  have  bestowed  upon  St. 
Werburgh's  Abbey,  Chester,  the  hamlet  of  Hodeshlith  (Hoseley) 
within  its  bounds.  But  under  Edward  the  Confessor  the 
whole  of  this  fertile  plain,  in  which  '  ham '  and  '  ford '  and 
'  stock  '  bear  witness  to  an  English  settlement  of  long  standing, 
was  in  the  hands  of  Gruffydd  ;  it  had,  indeed,  been  formally 
bestowed  upon  him  by  Edward,  it  may  be  in  1055,  but  in  any 
case  as  the  recognition  of  an  accomplished  fact.  Almost  the 
whole  hundred  of  Mersete,  lying  around  Oswestry,  was  in  the 
like  case,  and  one  learns  that  the  English  loss  was  recent  from 
the  statement  made  in  Domesday  that  Whittington,  Maesbury, 
and  Chirbury,  which  in  1066  yielded  no  revenue  whatever  to 
the  Crown,  had  between  them  furnished  half  a  [k]iiight's  ferm 
in  the  days  of  Ethelred.  The  Severn  was  still  the  boundary 
between  the  two  races  from  Melverley  to  I^eighton,  but  further 
south  evidence  of  the  aggression  of  Gruffydd  is  again  forth- 
coming. Not  only  Chirbury,  but  a  score  of  villages  round 
about,  where  the  English  system  of  hidage  had  been  in  full 
force,  had  been  rendered  uninhabitable,  and,  instead  of  fifty 
hides  paying  the  king's  taxes,  there  was  nothing  but  a  great 
forest.  Along  the  Herefordshire  border,  signs  of  the  activity 
of  Gruffydd  are,  as  might  be  expected,  everywhere  visible.  A 
line  drawn  from  Brampton  Bryan  on  the  Teme  to  Willersley 
on  the  Wye  would  roughly  indicate  the  western  limit  of 
English  occupation  at  this  time ;  all  the  English  villages 
between  this  and  Radnor  Forest — Knighton,  Radnor,  Kington, 
Huntington,  and  a  score  of  others — had  been  abandoned  to  the 
176 


PI,ATE  XXXI.    THE  WATER  TOWER  AND  WAU,S,  CHESTER 

Photo  Frith  *76 


GRUFFYDD    AP    LLYWELYN 

Welsh,  largely,  no  doubt,  as  the  result  of  the  raid  of  1052. 
South  of  the  Wye,  again,  the  country  bore  vivid  witness  to 
the  work  of  1055  ;  only  a  few  villages  lining  the  south  bank 
of  the  river  are  entered  in  Domesday  as  yielding  an  income  to 
English  lords  under  the  Confessor,  and  of  Archenfield  or 
Erging  as  a  whole  it  is  said  that,  though  at  one  time  paying 
rent  and  service  to  the  English  king,  it  had  been  so  devastated 
by  Gruffydd  and  his  successor,  Bleddyn,  as  to  be  of  no  value 
to  the  Crown  in  1066." 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  Gruffydd's  campaigns  were 
something  more  than  mere  border  forays,  and  that  from  the 
extent  of  his  gains  he  could  not  have  been  the  most  insignificant 
of  the  allies — Welsh,  Mercian,  and  Norse — who  proved  such 
particularly  sharp  thorns  in  the  side  of  Harold. 

There  was  another  great  gift  he  gave  his  countrymen  besides 
territory.  For  centuries  Wales  had  been  so  torn  by  civil  war, 
by  foreign  attacks,  and  by  piratical  raids  that  she  was  well- 
nigh  losing  her  self-esteem  and  self-respect.  No  nation  can 
live  for  ever  by  fighting  and  at  the  same  time  retain  the  arts 
and  graces  of  peace.  No  people  can  be  for  ever  oppressed, 
either  by  a  foreign  enemy,  or  by  religious  intolerance,  or 
physical  compulsion,  or  poverty,  and  retain  the  national  spirit 
which  is  necessary  before  a  collection  of  human  beings  can 
call  itself  a  nation.  So  it  was  with  Wales.  The  signs  were 
not  wanting  that  a  break-up  was  imminent.  Her  poetry 
had  gone.  Her  kings  had  gone.  Her  princes  were  furiously 
squabbling  one  with  another.  Her  priests  had  lost  their  grip 
on  her  rulers.  A  Welsh  prince  could  join  with  pagan  pirate  hi 
plundering  his  neighbours.  Her  most  fertile  lands,  once  ravaged, 
remained  deserted.  Civil  war  was  becoming  almost  perpetual. 

All  that  was,  for  the  time  being,  altered  by  Gruffydd.  He 
was  a  strong  man  and  an  able  soldier.  He  united  the  various 
principalities  once  more,  and  he  showed  the  Welsh  that  with 
the  aid  of  an  intelligent  foreign  policy  they  were  still  a  nation 
capable  of  united  action,  capable  of  dealing  shrewd  blows  that 
made  it  necessary  for  the  English  king  to  have  a  care  how  Wales 
was  treated.  In  the  years  to  come  the  spirit  he  had  instilled 

M  I77 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

into  his  countrymen  was  not  able  to  save  Wales  from  conquest 
— geographically  her  eventual  absorption  by  England  was 
inevitable — but  it  enabled  her  to  make  a  magnificent  struggle 
for  her  freedom,  and  it  gave  back  to  her  poets  the  gift  of  song, 
so  that  to-day  we  can  read  of  the  doings  of  her  princes  in  the 
years  which  follow  on  the  commencement  of  the  Norman 
Conquest.  The  bad  old  period  of  silent,  listless  apathy  is 
gone.  For  the  years  which  follow  we  have  to  treat  of  many 
battles,  of  many  deaths,  of  much  misery,  but  the  tale  is  not  so 
squalid  as  heretofore.  The  period  we  have  passed  has  been  an 
ugly  one  of  internecine  strife.  We  now  turn  to  an  era  which 
has  many  grim  doings  belonging  to  it,  but  no  longer  does 
civil  war  well-nigh  monopolize  the  story  as  told  in  the  chronicles. 
For  a  few  years  after  the  break-up  consequent  upon  the  death 
of  Grufiydd  many  struggles  take  place  between  Welshman 
and  Welshman,  but,  finally  and  after  the  inevitable  relapse,  the 
national  spirit  becomes  more  evident  and  more  permanent. 
We  have  at  last  a  nation  fighting  against  a  national  enemy, 
and  that  at  least  lifts  the  story  to  a  higher  plane  and  makes 
the  very  wars  themselves  more  glorious. 


I78 


CHAPTER  XI 

FROM    THE    DEATH    OF    GRUFFYDD    AP 

LLYWELYN  TO  THE  DEATH   OF  OWAIN 

OF  POWYS 

(1063-1116) 

WITH  the  death  of  Gruffydd  ap  Llywelyn  we  find  Wales 
again  broken  up  into  a  number  of  fragments, 
each  controlled,  from  time  to  time,  by  its  own 
particular  prince,  or  princes,  or  claimants,  who  found  it 
necessary,  apparently,  to  fight  continually  one  with  another 
in  support  of  their  claims  or  pretensions. 

The  campaign  of  Harold  would  seem  to  have  had  far-reaching 
effects  and  to  have  reduced  the  Welsh  polity  from  one  of  some 
sort  of  coherence  to  a  mere  congregation  of  hostile  tribal 
lordlings,  each  having  but  few  ideas  beyond  his  own  selfish 
interests,  or  the  planning  of  occasional  acts  of  violence  and 
plunder.  As  a  consequence  the  history  of  Wales  for  the  next 
few  years  is  petty,  and  the  parts  played  by  its  ruling  princes, 
with  but  one  exception,  none  too  noble. 

Before  we  pass  to  a  consideration  of  these  Welsh  chieftains 
it  is  desirable  to  consider  the  steps  which  were  taken  by  the 
enemies  of  Wales  to  secure  the  fruits  of  Harold's  victories. 

Harold  himself  was,  as  we  might  expect,  the  first  to  follow 
up  his  triumphs.  Some  two  years  after  the  death  of  Gruffydd 
we  find  him  again  in  Gwent.  Apparently  he  was  not  opposed, 
and  it  may  be  that  the  expedition  was  one  of  pleasure.  We 
find  him  ordering  the  building  of  a  hunting-lodge  at  Portskewet 
— so  satisfied  was  he  that  his  enemies  were  quite  subdued. 
The  result  showed  how  mistaken  he  was  in  so  thinking ;  and  in- 
deed he  must  have  been  of  a  singularly  sanguine  temperament 

179 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

or  have  known  little  of  his  enemy  who  thought  the  Welsh 
could  be  subdued  in  one  campaign.  No  Saxon  house  at  that 
time  that  was  not  fully  guarded  by  moat  and  mound  and 
palisade  was,  if  within  the  borders  of  Wales,  safe  from  the 
danger  of  being  plundered  by  the  Welsh. 

It  happened  as  one  might  have  expected.  While  the 
builders  were  busy  constructing  this  summer  retreat,  Caradog, 
Prince  of  Gwynllwg  and  Gwent,  swooped  down  from  the  hills, 
murdered  the  builders,  and  carried  off  everything  that  was 
portable.  Such  raids  were,  of  course,  of  constant  occurrence. 
Later,  when  we  come  to  the  unhappy  reign  of  lorwerth,  we 
shall  find  Owain  and  Madog  leading  regular  bands  of  free- 
booters, who  lived  entirely  on  deeds  of  violence  directed 
against  anyone,  Norman  or  Welshman,  who  had  property  to 
lose. 

THE  NORMANS 

With  the  coming  of  Duke  William  and  his  Norman  followers 
the  position  was  somewhat  altered.  We  now  enter  upon  the 
first  really  organized  attempt  to  capture  the  whole  of  the  land 
of  Wales  and  to  subdue  completely  the  inhabitants.  It  was  a 
struggle  which  continued  intermittently  until  the  final  conquest 
of  Wales.  It  was,  be  it  observed,  a  struggle  between  Norman 
lords  and  Welsh  princes  rather  than  between  Normans  and 
Welshmen.  A  consideration  of  legal  documents  and  extents 
shows  that  the  under-tenant,  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  peasant, 
lost  little  by  the  change.  The  dues  paid  by  tenant  to  lord 
remained  the  same  as  before.  Their  holdings  were  to  a  large 
extent  undisturbed.  The  change  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  lord 
was  Norman  Ralph  or  Richard  instead  of  Welsh  Gruffydd 
or  Owain.  Even  the  tribal  system  of  land-holding  lived  on ; 
but  the  tribal  chief  looked  to  a  Norman  rather  than  a 
Welsh  overlord.  These  facts  should  be  borne  in  mind  in 
order  that  the  nature  of  the  struggle  which  lies  ahead  may  be 
appreciated. 

At  the  outset  of  our  description  of  the  struggle  with  the 
Norman  marcher  lords  it  is  desirable  to  state  shortly  the 
1 80 


GRUFFYDD   TO    OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

system  adopted.  Wales  had  on  its  eastern  border  three 
important  towns,  which  were  the  keys  to  the  military  position 
as  regards  North,  East,  and  South  Wales  respectively.  These 
towns,  Chester,  Shrewsbury,  and  Hereford,  were  each  placed 
by  William  in  charge  of  an  important  Norman  baron.  Thus 
Chester  was  given  to  Hugh  the  Fat,  son  of  Richard  of 
Avranches.  Around  him  were  his  men,  among  them  Robert, 
later  of  Rhuddlan,  one  of  his  trustiest  lieutenants,  to  whom 
was  given  in  time  the  honourable  but  dangerous  duty  of  acting 
the  part  of  castellan  to  Rhuddlan  Castle.  Robert  fitz  Hugh, 
of  Malpas,  and  William  Malbanc  of  Nantwich  were  other 
under-tenants  who  held  important  estates  round  Chester  with 
the  duty  of  keeping  them  safe. 

At  Shrewsbury  was  placed  the  great  Roger  Montgomery, 
founder  of  a  famous  house,  a  personal  friend  of  Duke  William, 
and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  invasion.  Around  him  were 
placed  as  under-lords  Ralph  Mortimer,  founder  of  a  still  more 
famous  line,  Warin  the  Bald,  William  Pantulf  of  Corbet,  and 
Robert  of  Sai.  Descendants  of  these  still  hold  broad  acres 
in  Shropshire  and  on  the  borders. 

At  Hereford  we  find  William  fitz  Osbern,  lord  of  Breteuil, 
a  relative  of  William.  He  too  had  around  him  friends  and 
retainers.  His  knights  it  was  who  built  castles  at  Monmouth, 
Wigmore,  Clifford,  and  Kwias  Harold. 

These,  then,  were  the  men  who  commenced  the  castling  of 
Wales,  which  in  course  of  time  at  last  overcame  that  stubborn 
resistance  which  the  Britons  at  all  times  made  when  their 
liberty  or  their  lands  were  threatened  with  conquest.  Some 
have  portrayed  them  as  men  licentious  and  cruel  almost 
past  belief,  delighting  in  torture  and  murder.  To  say  so  is  to 
hold  the  balance  unfairly.  They  were  men  of  high  passions 
and  courage,  equally  careless  of  their  own  lives  and  those  of 
their  enemies — as  civilized  at  least  as  the  Welsh,  who  offer  to 
history  the  spectacle  of  a  prince  blinding  his  brother  to  seize 
his  inheritance,  and  of  a  leader  of  men  holding  back  with  the 
sharp  spears  of  his  retainers  one  whom  every  sentiment  of 
loyalty  should  have  made  him  reverence,  so  that  he  dropped, 

181 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

burnt  and  lifeless,  in  the  fiery  ruins  from  which  he  was  en- 
deavouring to  escape.  The  times  were  savage,  and  the  men 
on  both  sides  were  fitted  to  the  period  in  which  they 
lived. 

The  most  considerable  advance  in  the  occupation  of  Wales 
by  the  marcher  lords  was  made  at  first  by  William  fitz  Osbern. 
But  before  either  he  or  the  leaders  in  Chester  and  Shrewsbury 
were  free  to  pursue  their  campaigns  against  the  Welsh  it  was 
necessary  to  deal  with  the  equally  hostile  forces  of  Mercia. 
Thus  in  1067  we  find  Bleddyn  and  Rhiwallon  joining  forces 
with  Eadric,  an  important  Mercian  lord.  They  jointly 
attacked  Hereford  Castle  itself,  but  with  little  result.  In  the 
next  year  we  find  Eadric  and  Edwin  of  Mercia,  Morcar  of 
Northumbria,  and  Bleddyn  of  Wales  combining  together. 
These  allies  formed  a  serious  opposition  of  more  than  border 
importance,  so  that  King  William  himself  was  forced  to  lead 
an  army  against  them.  Edwin  grew  frightened  and  made 
peace,  but  the  others  continued  the  struggle  and  attacked 
Shrewsbury.  This  was  before  William  had  had  time  to  march 
his  army  to  the  scene  of  battle.  In  1070  we  find  him  at 
Chester,  having  marched  through  winter  across  the  Pennines. 
With  his  appearance  serious  resistance  was  abandoned.  Eadric 
made  terms,  and  Bleddyn  returned  once  more  to  Wales. 

As  we  shall  see  later,  this  Bleddyn  became  sole  prince  of 
Powys  and  Gwynedd  in  1070  as  the  result  of  the  death  of  his 
brother,  Rhiwallon.  At  the  same  time,  or  even  earlier, 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  was  lord  of  Deheubarth.  The  Brut  y 
Tywysogion  1  tells  us  that  in  1072  this  Maredudd  was  killed  by 
Caradog  ap  Gruffydd — who  had  already  distinguished  himself 
by  the  murder  of  Harold's  workmen — and  the  French  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Rhymney.  The  French  here  referred  to  by 
the  chronicler  were  the  followers  of  William  fitz  Osbern,  who, 
as  a  result  of  the  campaign  of  that  year,  would  appear  to  have 
obtained  dominion  over  the  whole  of  Gwent — a  curious  result  if 
Caradog  was  in  truth  his  ally,  since  Caradog  was  lord  of  Gwent. 

It  is  probably  about  this  time  that  the  castles  at  Monmouth 

1  We  give  the  correct  dates.     The  Brut  is  still  behind  in  its  dates. 
182 


GRUFFYDD   TO   OWAIN   OF    POWYS 

and  Chepstow  were  built.  From  these  as  centres  we  find 
William  fitz  Osbern  pushing  north  and  west  in  an  effort  to 
reduce  the  country  lying  between  the  Taff  and  the  Usk.  These 
successes  were  destined  to  be  the  last  achieved  by  fitz  Osbern, 
for  in  the  next  year  he  was  slain  in  battle  in  Flanders. 

Although  the  old  leader  was  dead  the  Normans  advanced. 
In  1071  we  read  of  the  French  ravaging  Ceredigion  and  Dyfed, 
and  again  in  the  year  following  Ceredigion  was  made  the 
object  of  attack.  The  turn  came  with  the  rebellion,  or 
attempted  rebellion,  of  Roger,  Earl  William's  heir,  who  was 
discovered  in  a  plot  against  his  royal  master.  The  result  was 
the  fall  of  the  house  of  fitz  Osbern  and  the  checking  for  a 
time  of  the  Norman  occupation  of  South  Wales. 

We  must  now  journey  north  to  Roger  Montgomery's  castle 
at  Shrewsbury.  Of  the  border  battles  which  he  fought  we 
have  no  clear  account.  Perhaps  the  most  important  event 
was  the  building  of  the  castle  at  I/CEuvre — the  commencement 
of  the  Norman  power  at  Oswestry.  There  were  doubtless 
many  attempts  made  on  Powys.  Roger  was  not  the  man  to 
sleep  while  others  fought,  and  we  have  evidence  that  certain 
territorial  advantages  were  gained  by  the  Normans,  while 
other  parts  which  in  times  past  had  been  recovered  by  the 
Welsh  from  the  Mercians  were  recaptured  by  the  Normans. 
Thus  the  district  round  Chirbury  became  one  of  Roger's  many 
manors.  He  also  built  the  castle  of  Montgomery. 

Yet  farther  north  Fat  Hugh  of  Chester,  aided  mainly  by 
his  trusty  lieutenant,  Robert  of  Rhuddlan,  was  pushing  slowly 
along  the  North  Welsh  coast.  Castle  Rhuddlan,  which  once 
had  housed  Gruff ydd  ap  I^lywelyn,  had  now  become  a  Norman 
stronghold.  Robert  had  from  this  centre  waged  successful 
war  against  Gwynedd,  so  that  Rhos  and  Rhufoniog  were  in 
his  power  and  a  castle  was  being  built  at  royal  Deganwy.  Of 
the  many  fights  which  led  to  these  results  we  have  but  few 
chronicled.  It  is  not  to  be  believed,  however,  that  the  Welsh 
princes  saw  their  rights  thus  ruthlessly  swept  away  without 
many  an  effort  made  to  stem  the  tide.  We  do  know,  however, 
something  of  the  end  of  Robert.  He  had  been  absent  from 

183 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

his  lordship  taking  part  in  the  disputes  which  arose  on  the 
death  of  William  in  1087,  and  did  not  return  until  1088.  He 
found  that  in  his  absence  the  Welsh  had  ravaged  his  lands. 
One  day  in  the  summer  of  that  year,  while  asleep  after  dinner 
in  Deganwy  Castle,  he  was  awakened  to  find  the  Welsh  pillaging 
the  surrounding  country — or  shall  we  say  recovering  their  own 
by  way  of  plunder  ?  Already  much  cattle  and  many  women 
and  children — these  latter  destined,  probably,  for  the  slave- 
markets  of  Ireland — were  being  hurried  on  board  vessels  which 
lay  at  anchor  in  the  bay.  Realizing  that  instant  action  was 
necessary,  and  impatient  of  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  his  hastily 
summoned  retainers,  he  hastened  in  pursuit,  accompanied  only 
by  a  solitary  knight.  Such  rash  bravery  had  an  inevitable 
sequel.  Unprotected  by  armour  as  he  was,  he  made  an  easy 
target  for  the  arrows  of  the  Welsh — in  later  times,  and  perhaps 
then,  the  finest  bowmen  in  the  world.  Pierced  by  arrow 
after  arrow,  he  died  on  a  mountain  path  leading  to  the  shore. 
His  head  was  severed  from  his  body,  as  was  usual  in  the  case 
of  a  defeated  or  slaughtered  chief  in  those  days,  and  was 
carried  off  in  triumph  by  his  enemies. 

Robert  of  Rhuddlan  seems  to  have  been  a  capable,  brave, 
and  energetic  leader.  His  death,  however,  did  not  stay  the 
Norman  forward  movement.  Hugh  the  Fat  pushed  on 
through  Arvon  as  far  as  Mon.  He  built  castles  at  Caernarvon, 
Bangor,  and  Aber  lyleiniog,  in  Mon.  In  1092  Bangor  owned  a 
Breton  bishop,  and  grants  were  made  by  Hugh  of  manors  in 
Rhos  and  Anglesey. 

We  must  now  leave  the  marcher  lords  and  their  doings  in 
order  to  retrace  our  steps  and  give  some  short  account  of  the 
Welsh  princes  who  occupy  the  stage  during  these  early 
struggles.  The  first  of  the  native  leaders  of  whom  we  shall 
speak  is  that  Bleddyn  whom  we  left  returning  to  his  country 
after  the  breakdown  of  the  alliance  with  the  Mercians. 

BLEDDYN  AP  CYNVYN 

This  Bleddyn  of  whom  we  are  now  speaking  was  the  one 
Welsh  prince  of  the  period  who  showed  any  real  capacity  for 
184 


GRUFFYDD   TO    OWAIN    OF    POWYS 

governing  on  the  grand  scale.  The  son  of  Cynvyn,  he  had 
earlier  made  submission  to  Harold.  At  that  time  he  shared 
with  his  brother  the  territories  of  Powys  and  Gwynedd,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  he  was  at  once  capable  in  time  of  "war  and 
mild  and  just  in  time  of  peace. 

One  of  the  first  entries  in  the  Chronicles  of  the  Princes  after 
the  landing  of  William  of  Normandy  tells  us  of  a  battle  fought 
between  Bleddyn  and  Rhiwallon  on  the  one  side  and  Maredudd 
and  Ithel,  sons  of  Gruffydd,  on  the  other.  This  battle,  fought 
at  Mechain  in  1070,  resulted  in  the  death  of  both  of  Gruffydd's 
sons,  Ithel  being  killed  in  battle  and  Maredudd  dying  of 
exposure  during  his  flight.  On  the  other  side  Rhiwallon  was 
also  slain,  so  that  as  a  result  of  this  single  engagement  we 
have  two  of  the  most  formidable  of  Bleddyn's  opponents 
removed,  and  Bleddyn  left  in  sole  possession  of  considerable 
territories  extending  over  North  and  East  Wales.  Deheu- 
barth,  the  third  important  member  of  the  Welsh  principalities, 
was  in  the  hands  of  Maredudd  ap  Owain,  grandson  of  Edwin, 
and  a  nephew  of  that  Howel  ap  Edwin  whom  Gruffydd  had 
defeated  some  twenty  years  before.  As  we  have  seen,  this 
Maredudd  was  also  killed  in  battle  some  few  years  afterward 
by  a  combination  of  forces  including  both  Normans  and  Welsh. 
It  is  always  difficult  to  judge  of  the  merits  or  demerits 
of  a  prince  of  whom  we  know  so  little  as  Bleddyn.  From 
the  few  facts  we  possess  concerning  him  and  his  reign  it 
is  evident,  however,  that  he  was  superior  to  most  of  his 
contemporaries. 

We  have  seen  that  he  had  twice  attempted  to  unite  with 
the  more  important  leaders  of  the  Mercians.  The  alliances 
came  to  little  because  of  the  timidity  of  the  Saxons.  His 
position  was  not  made  stronger  by  the  fact  that  he  had  to 
cope  with  insurrection  at  home,  a  revolt  or  rebellion  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  put  down  by  the  battle  of  Mechain.  Of 
his  other  battles,  which  were  doubtless  fought  against  the 
Normans,  we  know  but  little.  It  is  significant,  however,  that 
the  house  of  Montgomery  achieved  least  of  all  of  the  three 
great  Norman  families  during  this  period.  We  know  that  he 

185 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

was  a  lawgiver  and  that  he  made  extensive  changes  in  the 
laws  of  Howel  Dha  relating  to  Venedotia.  Thus  he  altered 
the  quantities  of  land  assigned  to  each  at  the  various  divi- 
sions among  heirs,  and  established  an  alternative  method  of 
obtaining  satisfaction  from  a  thief.  He  seems  to  have  been 
beloved  by  his  fellow-countrymen,  for  on  his  death  at  the 
hand  of  Rhys  ap  Owain,  chief  of  Ystrad  Tywi,  "  through  the 
deceit  of  evil-minded  chieftains,"  the  chronicler  refers  to  him 
as  "  the  man  who  after  Gruffydd,  his  [half]  brother,  nobly  sup- 
ported the  whole  kingdom  of  the  Britons."  Again  we  read 
that  he  was  "  the  mildest  and  most  merciful  of  the  kings,  and 
[one]  who  would  injure  no  one  unless  offended,  and  when 
offended,  it  was  against  his  will  that  he  then  avenged 
the  offence.  He  was  gentle  to  his  relatives,  and  was  a 
defender  of  the  orphans,  the  helpless,  and  the  widows.  [He] 
was  the  supporter  of  the  wise,  the  honour  and  glory  of  the 
churches.  .  .  .  Generous  to  all,  terrible  in  war  and  amiable 
in  peace." 

On  his  death  in  1075  he  left  as  heirs  five  sons — Madog  and 
Rhiryd,  who  were  both  slain  in  1088,  Cadwgan  and  lorwerth, 
who  both  survived  until  mi,  and  Maredudd.  Rhiryd  had  a 
son,  Madog,  of  whom,  in  conjunction  with  Cadwgan's  son, 
Owain,  we  shall  have  to  speak  when  we  come  to  consider  the 
doings  of  those  two  lawless  young  men.  Bleddyn's  fifth  son, 
Maredudd,  died  in  1132,  and  transmitted  the  rights  of  his 
family  to  many  future  generations 

GRUFFYDD  AP  CYNAN  AND  TRAHAEARN 

The  year  1075  brought  into  prominence  another  Welsh 
prince— Gruffydd  ap  Cynan,  half  Dane,  half  Welshman, 
who  in  the  years  to  come  was  destined  to  wage  almost 
continual  war  on  the  Normans.  In  the  year  of  Bleddyn's 
death  we  find  Gruffydd  directing  an  attack  upon  Rhuddlan 
Castle.  The  attempt  seems  to  have  been  but  partially 
successful.  The  outworks  were  destroyed,  but  the  keep 
remained  secure.  Rhuddlan  was  still  in  Norman  hands,  though 
despoiled. 
1 86 


GRUFFYDD   TO   OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

Of  this  Gruffydd  we  shall  treat  at  greater  length  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.  To  interpose  an  account  of  his  life  here 
would  be  to  destroy  what  continuity  there  is  in  our  treatment 
of  these  disjointed  times. 

After  the  success  of  1075  we  find  his  own  people  revolting 
against  Gruffydd  on  account  of  the  large  number  of  Irish 
mercenaries  which  he  kept  around  him.  We  read  of  the  men 
of  Lleyn  murdering  fifty-two  of  these  Irish  as  they  lay 
sleeping.  Gruffydd,  alarmed,  hastily  collected  his  men  and 
prepared  to  defend  himself.  This  was  in  Arvon. 

Gruffydd's  difficulties  gave  an  opportunity  to  Trahaearn, 
chief  of  Arwystli,  who  early  in  1075  had  aspired  to  the  princi- 
pality of  Gwynedd,  only  to  be  defeated  in  the  battle  of  the 
Bloody  Acre.  Trahaearn  now  resolved  to  wipe  out  that 
defeat  and  make  one  more  attempt  to  gain  Gwynedd  for 
himself.  He  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Gwrgeneu  ap 
Seisyll  of  Powys.  The  opposing  forces  met  at  Bron  yr  Erw, 
as  the  allies  were  descending  from  the  mountains  into  the 
plain  of  Arvon.  Gruffydd's  small  force  was  overwhelmed,  he 
himself  escaping  to  Ireland. 

The  result  of  this  eventful  year  was  at  once  to  raise  up 
Gruffydd  to  the  position  of  prince  and  cast  him  down  to  the 
level  of  an  exile.  His  conqueror,  Trahaearn,  became  ruler  of 
Gwynedd,  and  remained  such  until  1081.  He  seems  to  have 
quarrelled  with  his  erstwhile  ally,  Gwrgeneu,  since  we  find 
that  chieftain  acting  as  guide  to  the  Normans  through  the 
mountains  of  Eryri,  with  the  result  that  that  part  of  Wales 
was  very  thoroughly  ravaged. 

RHYS  AP  OWAIN 

We  must  now  turn  for  a  moment  to  South  Wales.  The 
prince  who  ruled  there  about  the  time  of  Bleddyn's  death 
was  Rhys  ap  Owain,  who  had  succeeded  the  Maredudd  slain 
by  Caradog.  He  it  was  who  fought  against  Bleddyn  in  the 
last  fatal  battle.  In  1078  we  find  Trahaearn  leading  an  army 
against  Rhys  and  fighting  the  battle  of  Pwll  Gwdyg,  identified 
with  Goodwick,  near  Fishguard.  In  this  fight  we  are  told  that 

187 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

"  all  the  family  of  Rhys  fell,  and  he  himself  became  a  fugitive, 
like  a  timid  stag  before  the  hounds,  through  the  thickets  and 
the  rocks."  There  must  have  been  a  considerable  slaughter 
among  the  "  family  of  Rhys,"  since  we  find  the  younger  son 
of  a  younger  branch  succeeding  him,  and  this,  apparently, 
without  opposition. 

Rhys  ap  Owain  we  have  left  as  a  fugitive  after  the  battle  of 
Goodwick.  His  death  took  place  later  in  the  same  year,  he 
and  his  brother,  Howel,  being  killed  by  the  same  lawless 
Caradog  who  had  slain  Maredudd  of  Deheubarth.  Rhys  ap 
Tewdwr  succeeded  him,  and  we  find  him  defending  his  realm 
against  Caradog. 

We  now  pass  to  the  year  1081.  In  that  year  occurred  the 
decisive  battle  of  Cam  Mountain,  a  battle  which  disposed  of 
Trahaearn  and  Caradog  and  established  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan 
and  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr  on  the  thrones  of  Gwynedd  and  Deheu- 
barth respectively.  In  Powys  the  sons  of  Bleddyn  were  in 
authority. 

We  now  propose  to  trace  out  the  events  which  befell  in 
the  reigns  of  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr  and  the  sons  of  Bleddyn. 
We  reserve  our  account  of  the  life  of  Gruffydd,  as  we  have 
said,  for  a  later  chapter. 

RHYS  AP  TEWDWR 

Rhys  ap  Tewdwr  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Howel  Dha, 
being  an  offshoot  of  the  cadet  branch  of  the  house  of  Kinion.1 
He  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Deheubarth  after  Rhys  and 
Howel,  the  sons  of  Owain — a  senior  branch  of  the  same  family 
— had  been  slain  by  Caradog  as  above  mentioned.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  a  rival  claimant  appeared  in  the  person 
of  that  same  Caradog.  Rhys  seems  to  have  been  driven  from 
his  lands  for  the  time  being,  according  to  the  story  given  us 
in  the  Hanes  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan.  We  next  hear  of  his  joining 
forces  with  Gruffydd  on  that  prince's  return  from  Ireland. 
The  allies  were  completely  successful  in  disposing  of  their 
various  rivals,  Gruffydd  getting  rid  of  Trahaearn  and  Rhys 

1  Einion,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  graudsou  to  Howel  Dha. 

188 


GRUFFYDD   TO   OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

of  Caradog  in  the  great  battle  of  Mynydd  Cam.1  This  victory, 
won  in  1081,  established  Rhys,  so  far  as  Welsh  rivals  were 
concerned,  safely  in  Deheubarth,  but  about  this  time  he  had 
to  cope  with  a  more  serious  enemy.  It  was  in  this  year  that 
William  I  visited  Wales.  The  goal  for  which  he  made  was 
St.  David's,  but  whether  it  was  a  pilgrimage,  as  the  Annales 
Cambriae  would  have  us  believe,  or  a  military  punitive 
expedition,  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  regards  it,  and  as  the 
probabilities  incline  us  to  believe,  the  result  was  very  similar — 
the  Normans  saw  that  South  Wales  could  be  subdued  and  was 
worth  conquering.  They  commenced  to  look  with  covetous 
eyes  upon  this  part  of  Wales,  and  in  the  later  years  of  Rhys' 
reign  they  wrought  sad  havoc  in  his  principality. 

That  William  visited  St.  David's  shrine  is,  of  course,  certain, 
but  that  he  had  other  motives  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
shortly  afterward  this  part  of  Wales  is  found  paying  land 
taxes  to  William  to  a  considerable  amount,  viz.  £4O.2  The 
years  which  followed  this  journey  of  William  are  empty  of 
recorded  events.  During  this  time  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  Norman  marchers  were  slowly  consolidating  their  power 
and  linking  up  the  system  of  castles  or  mottes  which  enabled 
them  in  time  to  subdue  well-nigh  completely  this  part  of 
Wales. 

On  two  occasions,  however,  Rhys  had  to  contend  with 
Welsh  rather  than  Norman  enemies.  In  1088,  as  we  have 
seen,  Madog  and  Rhiryd,  of  Powys,  were  both  slain.  This  blow 
to  the  house  of  Bleddyn  was  delivered  by  Rhys,  who,  attacked 
by  those  princes,  was  at  first  overwhelmed  and  driven  to  take 
refuge  in  Ireland,  from  whence  returning  with  paid  auxiliaries, 
he  reversed  the  tide  of  fortune,  destroying  the  hopes  of  Powys 
by  the  slaughter  of  two  of  its  princes.  In  1091  he  met  an 
insurrection  raised  in  support  of  the  claims  of  Gruffydd  ap 
Maredudd,  a  younger  member  of  a  senior  branch  of  the  house 

1  Since  Gruffydd  was  the  leader  and  Rhys  merely  his  supporter — and  one 
who  took  very  little  part  in  the  battle — we  reserve  our  treatment  of  this 
victory  until  we  reach  an  account  of  Gruffydd  and  his  times. 

2  We  are  entirely  indebted  for  this  to  Professor  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales, 
vol.  ii,  p.  394. 

189 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

of  Einion,  and  at  the  battle  of  I/landydoch  again  made  good 
his  position  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  pretender.1 

So  far  Rhys  had  been  successful  in  retaining  in  his  hands  the 
right  to  rule  over  Deheubarth.  In  1093,  however,  a  movement 
commenced  which  swept  away  his  power,  his  life,  and  the 
complete  independence  of  South  Wales.  As  we  have  already 
said,  the  Normans  had  not  improbably  been  slowly  consolidating 
their  power  in  this  part  of  Wales.  What  exactly  led  up  to 
the  campaign  of  1093  is  extremely  doubtful.  Powel,  working 
upon  the  authority  of  Caradog  of  I4ancarvan,  tells  us  that 
Rhys  at  the  battle  of  I,landydoch  already  mentioned  defeated 
Llywelyn  and  Binion.2  Binion  fled  to  lestyn  of  Morgannwg. 
This  chief  tarn  offered  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Binion, 
requiring  in  return  that  Binion  should  bring  Normans  to 
lestyn's  aid  in  his  quarrel  with  Rhys.  Binion  was  successful 
in  persuading  Robert  fitz  Hamon,  the  builder  of  Cardiff 
Motte,  to  join  the  rebellious  Welsh  and  to  bring  with  him 
many  Norman  knights  and  followers.  The  allies  were  vic- 
torious :  Rhys'  territories  were  ravaged — Rhys,  attempting  to 
stay  the  onward  march  of  the  destroyers,  met  them  in  battle, 
but  was  defeated  and  slain.  The  Normans  were  paid  off  and 
returned  to  their  ships.  Binion  now  claimed  his  promised 
bride.  lestyn,  however,  having  obtained  the  revenge  he  sought, 
laughed  to  scorn  the  hopeful  suitor,  and  Einion,  enraged, 
called  back  the  Normans,  despoiled  the  fertile  lands  of  Dyf ed — 
and  received  in  return  the  barren  and  rough  places,the  Normans 
taking  for  themselves  the  fertile  valleys.  It  is  to  this  conquest 
that  Caradog  would  have  us  trace  the  first  important  advance 
made  by  the  Normans  into  South  Wales.  It  may  be  taken, 
however,  that  these  Norman  successes  were  not  the  work  of 
one  short  campaign  or  of  one  or  two  battles.  Between  the 
years  1091-1093  Brycheiniog  was  being  conquered.  Cardiff 
Motte  3  had  already  been  built.  What  is  probable  is  that  the 

1  It  is  questionable  whether  this  word  can  be  used  in  this  connexion.     To 
us  Gruffydd  appears  to  have  a  better  claim  by  birth  than  Rhys. 

2  They  were  the  sons  of  Cediver  of  Dyfed,  and  supporters  and  inciters  of 
Gruffydd. 

3  The  castle  proper  belongs  to  a  later  time. 

190 


GRUFFYDD   TO   OWAIN   OF   POWYS 

continual  disputes  between  the  various  Welsh  leaders  greatly 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Normans  and  enabled  them  to 
make  advances  which,  had  the  Welsh  been  united,  would  have 
been  impossible. 

THE  POWYSIAN  ANARCHY 

Under  this  title  we  shall  consider  the  history  of  Powys  from 
the  death  of  Bleddyn  in  1075  to  the  deaths  of  Cadwgan  and 
lorwerth  in  mi.  Bleddyn  appears  to  have  been  succeeded 
by  his  sonsMadog,  Rhiryd,  Cadwgan,  lorwerth,  and  eventually 
Maredudd.  Of  these  Madog  and  Rhiryd  were  slain  in  battle 
by  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr  in  1088,  as  we  have  seen.  Cadwgan  and 
lorwerth  seem  to  have  been  weak  rulers,  and  throughout  their 
reign  they  were  continually  harassed  by  the  lawless  actions  of 
Madog  ap  Rhiryd  and  Owain,  Cadwgan's  son.  In  1093,  as 
we  have  said,  Rhys  had  been  killed  by  the  Normans,  who 
ravaged  Dyfed  and  Ceredigion  and  fortified  many  castles. 
To  this  period  of  encroachment  we  may  perhaps  assign  the 
attempt  at  building  the  castle  of  Aberhonddu.  We  next  find 
the  Welsh,  during  the  temporary  absence  of  the  Normans, 
destroying  Norman  castles  in  Gwynedd,  and  the  Normans 
retaliating  with  an  attack  upon  Gwynedd.  We  find  Cadwgan 
ap  Bleddyn  resisting  the  attack  successfully.  In  the  same 
year  the  Welsh  destroyed  all  the  castles  in  Ceredigion  and 
Dyfed  except  two — Pembroke  and  Rhyd  y  Gors.  This 
expedition  was'probably  led  by  Cadwgan  ;  and,  whether  it  was 
a  patriotic  attempt  to  break  the  power  of  the  Normans  in  the 
south  or  a  mere  plundering  expedition,  the  result  was  the  same 
for  the  unhappy  population,  for  we  are  told  that  Cadwgan 
brought  away  all  the  people  and  cattle  from  Dyfed,  leaving 
Dyfed  and  Ceredigion  a  desert. 

The  next  move  made  by  this  Prince  of  Powys  was  to  attack 
the  castle  of  Pembroke.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  succeeded 
in  capturing  it,  but  it  was  "  despoiled  "  and  all  its  cattle  were 
seized  by  the  Briton.  Gerald  of  Pembroke,  the  castellan, 
retaliated  by  ravaging  Menevia.  The  Normans  now  made  an 
important  move  in  the  north  with  the  object  of  capturing 

191 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Anglesey.  Of  this  we  shall  treat  when  we  come  to  the  reign 
of  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan.  We  find,  however,  Cadwgan  leagued 
with  Gruffydd  in  opposition  to  the  Normans.  The  Welsh 
leaders  seem  to  have  had  to  contend  with  treachery  on  the 
part  of  their  followers,  and  both  Cadwgan  and  Gruffydd  fled 
to  Ireland  in  fear  of  their  lives.  They  returned  some  two  years 
later — that  is  to  say,  about  1099.  Peace  was  made  with  the 
Normans,  largely  because  of  the  energy  of  Gruffydd  and  the 
death  of  Hugh  of  Chester,  as  we  shall  see.  Cadwgan  now 
became  Prince  of  Ceredigion  and  part  of  Powys,  with  the 
consent  of  Robert  of  Belleme,  now  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  who 
had  succeeded  his  brother  in  1098. 

It  was  this  Robert  who  in  1102,  as  a  sequel  to  his  attempts 
to  create  an  imperium  in  imperio,  was  summoned  by  King 
Henry  to  answer  the  charges  of  disloyalty  which  were  being 
made  against  him.  Robert  evidently  felt  unable  to  explain 
his  conduct,  and  so  we  find  him  in  open  rebellion,  fortifying 
his  castles  at  Shrewsbury  and  Bridgnorth,  Tickhill  in  Yorkshire, 
and  Arundel  in  Sussex.  At  the  same  time  he  entered  into  an 
alliance  with  the  sons  of  Bleddyn,  Cadwgan,  lorwerth,  and 
Maredudd.  The  allies  are  found  pillaging  Staffordshire,  the 
Welsh  princes  conveying  the  booty  to  their  mountain  fast- 
nesses. Robert's  brother  Arnulf  was  also  a  confederate,  and 
he  brought  with  him  probably  the  men  of  Dyfed  and  Irish 
mercenaries.  Henry  I  was  not  the  man  to  tolerate  such  a 
state  of  affairs,  and  he  hastened  to  attack  Arundel  and  Tickhill. 
The  reduction  of  the  well-nigh  impregnable  fortress  of  Bridg- 
north was  a  far  more  difficult  matter,  and  a  prolonged  siege 
was  almost  out  of  the  question,  since  it  would  have  left  the 
whole  of  the  Welsh  border  at  the  mercy  of  the  confederates. 
We  find  Henry,  therefore,  resorting  to  a  mixture  of  bribery 
and  strategy.  Through  his  agent,  William  Pantulf,  he 
approached  lorwerth,  and  succeeded  in  weaning  him  from 
the  other  associates  with  bright  promises  of  future  power. 
As  the  chronicler  of  lylanbadarn  Fawr,  who  was  prejudiced 
in  favour  of  the  house  of  Bleddyn,  admits,  the  king  pro- 
mised lorwerth  more  than  he  could  obtain  from  the  earls. 
192 


GRUFFYDD   TO    OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

He  adds  :  "  the  portion  he  ought  to  have  of  the  land  of  the 
Britons  .  .  .  the  king  gave  to  lorwerth  ap  Bleddyn,  whilst 
the  king  should  live,  free,  without  homage  and  without  pay- 
ment ;  and  that  was  Powys  and  Ceredigion,  and  the  half  of 
Dyfed,  as  the  other  half  had  been  given  to  the  son  of  Baldwin, 
with  the  Vale  of  Tywi  and  Gower  and  Cydweli."  The  offer 
was  sufficient  to  make  lorwerth  a  traitor  to  his  brothers  and 
to  Robert.  He  despoiled  his  ally,  and  the  moral  blow  which 
Robert  suffered  on  finding  himself  thus  betrayed  resulted  in 
his  abandoning  what  he  now  realized  was  a  hopeless  struggle. 
The  Welsh  chronicler  throws  light  on  this  apparently  sudden 
surrender.  Robert  was  evidently  taken  completely  by  surprise, 
for  we  read  that  "  the  earl  had  previously  commanded  trust 
to  be  put  in  the  Britons,  not  imagining  that  he  should  experi- 
ence any  opposition  from  them ;  and  so  he  had  sent  all 
his  dairies  and  cattle  and  riches  amongst  the  Britons." 
The  writer  of  the  Brut  seems  to  have  felt  that  lorwerth's 
action  needed  an  apology,  for  he  accuses  Robert  of  folly  for 
so  trusting  his  one-time  enemies  "  without  reflecting  upon 
the  insults  the  Britons  had  received  from  his  father,  Roger, 
and  from  Hugh,  his  father's  brother,  which  the  Britons  kept 
in  mind." 

Not  only  was  Robert  surprised,  but  Cadwgan  and  Maredudd 
were  also  ignorant  of  the  change  of  front  for  s~ome  time.  The 
effect  of  the  defection  was,  however,  very  different  in  the  case 
of  the  Norman  and  the  Welshmen.  Robert  surrendered 
himself  to  the  king's  mercy  and  was  banished  from  the  realm. 
Cadwgan  and  Maredudd  made  peace  with  lorwerth,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  share  the  dominions  which  lorwerth 
fondly  hoped  would  soon  be  his. 

lorwerth  had  not,  however,  yet  exhausted  his  capacity  for 
treachery.  Shortly  afterward  we  find  him  seizing  Maredudd 
and  keeping  him  a  close  prisoner  in  the  king's  prison.  In  the 
meantime,  of  course,  Arnulf  had  been  brought  down  in  the 
ruin  which  had  fallen  on  the  house  of  Montgomery,  and  we 
find  Dyfed  with  the  castle  of  Pembroke  surrendered  to  the 
king.  lorwerth  now  probably  anticipated  the  fulfilment  of 

N  193 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Henry's  generous  promises.  He  was  to  learn  the  worthlessness 
of  a  promise  given  to  dupe  an  enemy. 

Instead  of  being  lord  of  South  and  Kast  Wales,  he  was 
cast  into  prison,  "  not  according  to  law,  but  according  to 
power,"  upon  some  trumped-up  charge.  Even  before  this 
Henry  had  partitioned  out  the  promised  lands  to  others. 
Norman  Saer  had  received  Pembroke,  while  the  Vale  of  Tywi, 
Gower,  and  Cydweli  were  given  to  Howel  ap  Goronwy.  Powys 
and  Ceredigion  had  alone  been  left  to  be  divided  between  the 
sons  of  Bleddyn.  With  lorwerth's  fall  we  find  Cadwgan  in 
control  of  those  regions. 

In  the  next  year  Richard  fitz  Baldwin  restored  the  castle 
of  Rhyd  y  Gors,  which  had  been  demolished,  and  tightened 
his  hold  on  Dyfed.  Howel  ap  Goronwy  was  in  the  same 
year  driven  from  his  lands,  not  improbably  by  the  Normans, 
for  we  find  him  pillaging  the  Vale  of  Tywi  and  the  district 
round  the  castle  of  Rhyd  y  Gors.  In  the  year  following 
he  was  the  victim  of  a  base  plot  which  resulted  in  his  death. 
The  story  as  told  us  by  the  compiler  of  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion 
is  worth  repeating  in  the  chronicler's  own  words.  There 
we  read  that  "  Gwgawn  ap  Meurig,  the  person  who  was 
nurturing  a  son  of  Howel,  and  whom  of  all  men  he  mostly 
trusted,  formed  the  plot  in  this  wise  :  Gwgawn  called  Howel, 
and  invited  him  into  his  house,  and  sent  to  the  castle  and 
called  the  French  to  him,  and  showed  them  their  appointed 
place,  to  wait  till  a  certain  time  in  the  night.  So  they  came 
about  daybreak,  and  surrounded  the  hamlet  and  the  house  in 
which  Howel  was,  and  gave  a  shout ;  and  with  that  shout 
Howel  promptly  awaked,  and  sought  for  his  arms,  and  waked 
and  called  his  companions.  And  the  sword  which  he  had 
placed  on  the  top  of  his  bed  and  the  spear  at  his  feet  had 
been  taken  away  by  Gwgawn,  whilst  he  was  asleep.  Howel 
sought  for  his  companions  to  fight,  supposing  them  to  be 
ready ;  but  they  had  fled,  probably  at  the  first  hour  of  the 
night ;  and  then  he  also  was  compelled  to  flee.  And  Gwgawn 
pursued  him  warily,  till  he  had  taken  him,  as  he  had  promised. 
And  when  Gwgawn's  companions  came  to  him  they  strangled 
194 


GRUFFYDD   TO    OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

Howel ;  and  brought  him,  strangled  and  almost  dead,  to  the 
French,  who,  after  cutting  off  his  head,  returned  to  the  castle." 
Thus  ended  Howel's  brief  chieftaincy. 

On  the  Norman  side  Saer,  the  holder  of  Pembroke,  seems  to 
have  offended  Henry  in  some  way,  for  he  was  relieved  of 
his  castle  in  1105,  the  charge  being  handed  over  to  Gerald, 
whom  we  have  already  mentioned. 

OWAIN  AND  NEST 

Gerald  had  married  into  the  royal  house  of  Deheubarth, 
his  wife  being  Nest  vz  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr,  and  we  find  him 
extending  his  power  in  another  direction  by  building  a  castle 
at  Little  Cenarch.  But  neither  the  favour  of  Henry  nor  his 
own  territorial  rights  nor  his  Welsh  connexion  could  save 
him  from  the  dishonour  which  Owain,  the  son  of  Cadwgan, 
heaped  upon  him  in  the  following  year. 

It  appears  that  while  Cadwgan  was  feasting  his  chieftains 
in  the  prince's  banqueting-hall  talk  turned  after  the  banquet 
upon  the  manifold  beauties  of  face  and  figure  of  Nest,  the  wife 
of  the  castellan  of  Pembroke,  known  to  history  as  '  the  Helen 
of  Wales.'  Owain  was  of  the  party,  and  seems  to  have  decided 
there  and  then  to  seize  the  lady  for  his  own.  Collecting  a  few 
rash  spirits  around  him,  he  went  to  the  castle,  ostensibly  on  a 
visit  of  courtesy  to  Nest,  who  was  his  kinswoman.  Whether 
this  visit  was  prompted  by  mere  idle  curiosity  or  whether  he 
went  to  see  what  plans  could  be  made  for  the  intended 
abduction  we  do  not  know,  but  shortly  afterward  we  find  him 
coming  stealthily  by  night  with  some  fourteen  companions  on 
his  daring  errand.  They  appear  to  have  succeeded  in  evading 
the  vigilance  of  the  guards  and  to  have  burrowed  under  the 
outer  gate,  scaled  the  outer  wall,  and  crossed  the  moat  protect- 
ing the  castle.  Arrived  at  the  castle  walls,  they  raised  an 
alarm  of  fire,  at  the  same  time  setting  fire  to  some  of  the 
surrounding  buildings.  In  the  panic  which  ensued  the 
castellan's  retainers  seem  to  have  deserted,  Gerald  himself 
being  advised  by  his  wife  to  escape.  The  bold  Owain  seized 
his  opportunity,  rushed  to  Nest's  apartment,  and  carried 

195 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

her  off,  together  with  her  children,  to  some  stronghold  in 
Ceredigion. 

This  escapade,  though  we  cannot  but  recognize  the  reckless 
bravery  of  Owain  and  his  men  in  storming  one  of  Wales' s 
strongest  fortresses  with  so  insignificant  a  force — and  he 
succeeded  in  practically  destroying  the  castle  by  fire — had  the 
obvious  result  of  bringing  down  the  wrath  of  King  Henry,  and, 
in  a  more  personal  sense,  of  Gerald,  upon  him  and  his  house. 
For  the  next  few  years  he  and  his  cousin  Madog  lived  the  life 
of  outlaws,  and  were  a  sore  thorn  in  the  side  of  Cadwgan  and 
lorwerth.  Both  Madog  and  Owain  ultimately  lost  their  lives 
in  the  feuds  which  ensued,  Owain  falling  to  the  hand  of  Gerald, 
whom  he  had  so  grievously  wronged,  and  who  caught  him 
unawares.  But  before  this  happened  the  two  were  destined 
to  do  many  lawless  and  reckless  deeds  in  Wales. 

IORWERTH'S  LETTER 

In  I  no  lorwerth  was  at  last  released  from  prison,  after 
having  given  hostages  to  Henry  for  his  good  behaviour  and 
having  paid  a  heavy  fine  for  the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to 
enter  upon  his  own  lands.  No  sooner  had  he  returned  than 
Owain  and  Madog  began  to  make  his  position  particularly 
uncomfortable  by  their  lawlessness.  They  were  at  this  time 
what  can  only  be  described  as  the  outlawed  chiefs  of  gangs  of 
freebooters.  They  lived  by  committing  crimes  of  violence, 
always  accompanied  by  robbery  or  cattle-driving.  Their 
energies  were  directed  against  the  Normans  and  the  English 
for  the  most  part,  but  they  had  to  make  some  Welsh  place 
their  stronghold  to  which  the  varied  plunder  which  they  took 
could  be  conveyed.  Unluckily  for  lorwerth,  they  chose  his 
part  of  Powys  for  their  abode.  So  disturbed  was  lorwerth  at 
this  that  we  find  him  addressing  the  following  letter  to  his 
lawless  nephews  :  "  God  has  delivered  us  into  the  hands  of 
our  enemies,  and  has  brought  us  down  so  much  that  we  could 
accomplish  nothing  of  what  might  be  our  wish  ;  it  is  interdicted 
to  all  of  us  Britons  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  you,  in 
respect  of  victuals,  or  drink,  or  aid,  or  support ;  but  we  must 
196 


GRUFFYDD    TO    OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

search  and  hunt  for  you  in  every  place,  and  ultimately  deliver 
you  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  to  imprison  you,  or  to  kill  you, 
or  to  execute  you,  or  to  do  unto  you  whatever  he  would  wish. 
And  specially  has  it  been  commanded  of  me  and  Cadwgan 
that  we  should  have  no  fellowship  with  you ;  for  no  one  can 
suppose  but  that  a  father,  or  an  uncle,  must  desire  the  welfare 
of  his  sons  and  his  nephews.  Therefore,  if  we  have  com- 
munication with  you  or  in  the  least  go  contrary  to  the  command 
of  the  king,  we  shall  lose  our  territory,  and  shall  be  imprisoned 
so  that  we  die,  or  we  shall  be  killed.  Wherefore,  I  pray  you, 
as  a  friend,  and  command  you,  as  your  lord,  and  intercede 
with  you  as  a  relative,  that  you  go  not  into  my  territory  nor 
into  the  territory  of  Cadwgan  any  more,  nor  into  the  territory 
of  other  men  about  us ;  because  more  causes  of  displeasure 
will  be  sought  for  against  us,  as  being  blameable,  than  against 
others."  This  kindly  and  sympathetic  missive  the  two 
outlaws  '  treated  with  contempt.'  At  last,  driven  to  despera- 
tion, lorwerth  pursued  them  with  his  men,  but  not  successfully, 
though  we  find  Owain  soon  afterward  making  Ceredigion  his 
centre,  Madog  remaining  in  Powys. 

OWAIN  AND  MADOG 

We  must  now  turn  back  to  consider  the  more  immediate 
results  of  the  abduction  of  Nest.  Though  strongly  urged  by 
his  father  to  surrender  his  unlawful  prize,  the  infatuated 
Owain  stubbornly  refused  to  do  so.  Nest,  on  her  part,  seems 
to  have  been  none  too  anxious  to  return,  though,  it  is  true,  she 
succeeded  in  inducing  Owain  to  allow  her  children  to  go  back 
to  their  father — a  step  which  looks  as  though  she  contemplated 
attempting  to  escape  and  return.  Owain's  stubborn  refusal  to 
make  such  amends  as  were  in  his  power  brought  down  upon 
him  and  Cadwgan  the  Normans,  aided  by  certain  Welsh 
chieftains,  including  the  Madog  with  whom  he  was  later 
leagued  for  some  time.  Cadwgan  and  Owain  were  compelled 
to  flee  to  Ireland,  where  Owain  remained  for  a  while,  though 
Cadwgan  soon  returned,  and  settled  on  the  manor  which  his 
wife,  who  was  a  Norman  and  a  daughter  of  Robert  of  Sai,  had 

197 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

brought  him.  His  lands  in  Powys  and  Ceredigion  seem  to 
have  been  given  to  Madog  and  his  brother  Ithel,  in  return 
for  their  aid  in  driving  Owain  from  the  country. 

Madog,  however,  already  showed  the  lawless  mettle  of  which 
he  was  made,  and  so  we  find  both  him  and  his  brother  being 
dispossessed  of  Ceredigion,  which  was  handed  back  to  Cadwgan 
in  return  for  a  heavy  fine  and  a  solemn  promise  to  render  no 
aid  to  Owain. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Owain  returned  and  allied 
himself  with  Madog,  who  had  not  improbably  been  driven  out 
of  South  Powys  by  Cadwgan,  to  form  the  confederacy  of  which 
we  have  spoken.  At  about  the  same  time,  or  possibly  the 
year  following  (Welsh  dates  for  this  period  are  always  rather 
doubtful),  lorwerth  was  released  and  reinstated.  Possibly  he 
was  given  Powys  when  Cadwgan  was  given  Ceredigion.  This 
would  account  for  Madog's  attitude. 

However  this  may  be,  Madog  and  Owain  now  enter  upon 
their  career  of  plunder.  After  Owain  had  been  driven  out  of 
Powys  by  lorwerth  we  find  him  making  Ceredigion  his  centre. 
From  here  he  harried  Dyfed,  capturing  men,  women,  and 
children  as  well  as  cattle.  The  former  were  doubtless  shipped 
to  Ireland  for  the  slave-markets. 

When  next  we  hear  of  the  two  they  are  together  concerned 
in  the  murder  of  an  important]  Fleming  named  William  of 
Brabant,  whom  they  waylaid  in  the  highway  and  slew.  At 
this  time  lorwerth  and  Cadwgan  were  at  King  Henry's  court. 
As  chance  would  have  it,  while  the  two  princes  were  there 
the  brother  of  William  of  Brabant,  who  was  also  present, 
heard  the  news  of  the  murder.  The  king  was  informed, 
whereupon  we  read  that  "  he  questioned  Cadwgan,  '  What 
sayest  thou  concerning  that  ?  '  'I  know  not,  my  lord/ 
replied  Cadwgan.  Then  said  the  king,  '  Since  thou  canst  not 
protect  thy  territory  against  the  companions  l  of  thy  son,  to 
prevent  them  from  killing  my  men  a  second  time  I  shall  give 
thy  territory  to  such  as  will  protect  it,  and  thou  shalt  remain 

1  We  must  comment  on  the  tact  of  this  speech.     The  companions  were 
blamed,  not  the  son. 
198 


GRUFFYDD   TO    OWAIN    OF   POWYS 

with  me  under  this  condition,  that  thou  tread  not  thy  native 
soil ;  and  I  will  support  thee  from  my  table,  until  I  take 
counsel  concerning  thee.' '  The  king,  having  taken  counsel, 
seems  to  have  decided  to  allow  Cadwgan  one  more  opportunity. 
This  was  not,  however,  until  the  year  following.  In  the 
meantime  Cadwgan  was  allowed  24^.  a  day  for  his  wants,  and 
Ceredigion  was  granted  to  Gilbert  fitz  Richard,  who  at  once 
took  steps  to  reduce  the  district  to  a  state  of  order.  We  find 
him  building  two  new  castles,  one  opposite  I4anbadarn,  close 
to  the  efflux  of  the  river  Ystwyth  and  near  the  modern 
Aberystwyth,  the  other  at  Aberteifi  on  the  site  of  an  earlier 
castle  founded  either  by  Barl  Robert  or  Roger  de  I^acy. 

Madog  and  Owain  seem  to  have  recognized  the  enormity  of 
their  offences  and  to  have  deemed  it  safer  to  quit  Wales  for 
the  time  being  and  retire  to  Ireland.  Madog  does  not  appear 
to  have  enjoyed  himself  there  very  much,  for  we  read  of  his 
returning  shortly  afterward  because  he  could  not  endure  the 
savage  manners  of  the  people.  Owain,  however,  who  had  had 
a  previous  experience  of  King  Murkertagh's  court,  prolonged 
his  stay  for  some  time. 

Madog  on  his  return  hastened  to  re-establish  himself  in 
Powys.  We  read,  and  we  can  well  believe,  that  "  he  was  not 
received  either  kindly  or  mercifully  by  his  uncle  lorwerth." 
We  find  him,  therefore,  a  fugitive,  driven  from  place  to  place, 
ever  attempting  to  hide  from  his  kinsman. 

Madog  evidently  believed  that  the  only  way  out  of  a 
desperate  position  was  the  death  of  lorwerth.  We  therefore 
find  him  hatching  a  sufficiently  infamous  plot  to  bring  about 
the  desired  result.  In  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  "  When 
lorwerth  returned  to  Caereinion,  Madog,  with  the  assistance  of 
Llywarch's  accomplices,  made  a  night  attack  upon  lorwerth. 
They  set  up  a  shout  about  the  house  where  lorwerth  resided  ; 
and  lorwerth,  awakened  by  the  shout,  bravely  defended  the 
house,  aided  by  his  companions.  Then  Madog  set  fire  to  the 
house  about  lorwerth  ;  and  when  the  companions  of  lorwerth 
saw  that,  they  sallied  out  through  the  fire,  and  left  lorwerth 
in  the  fire.  And  he,  seeing  the  house  falling,  attempted  to 

199 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

get  out,  and  his  enemies  received  him  on  the  points  of  their 
spears,  greatly  burnt,  and  killed  him." 

lorwerth  being  dead,  it  became  necessary  for  Henry  and 
his  ministers  to  decide  to  whom  his  territory  should  be  given. 
For  some  reason  which  it  is  difficult  to  understand,  it  was 
decided  to  grant  it  to  Cadwgan  and  his  son  Owain.  The 
latter  consequently  returned  from  Ireland  and  was  reconciled 
to  his  father. 

Cadwgan  lived  but  a  short  while  to  benefit  from  his  good 
fortune.  Madog  seems  to  have  surprised  him  in  a  lonely  place 
near  the  modern  Welshpool,  and  to  have  slain  him  there. 

Madog  then  had  the  effrontery  to  claim  Cadwgan's  lands. 
He  seems  to  have  been  granted  a  small  portion,  including 
Caereinion,  a  third  of  the  commote  of  Deuddwr,  and  the  tref  of 
Aberriw.  The  rest,  and  by  far  the  major  portion,  went  to  Owain. 
Madog's  career  was  now  drawing  to  a  close.  In  1113  we 
find  Maredudd  ap  Bleddyn,  Cadwgan's  younger  brother,  who 
was  one  of  Owain's  military  leaders  (perhaps  he  held  the 
position  of  avenger),  searching  for  Madog.  He  was  at  last 
successful  in  meeting  one  of  Madog's  companions,  whom  he 
forced  by  torture  to  disclose  his  leader's  hiding-place.  Mare- 
dudd, having  succeeded  so  far,  set  spies  about  the  place,  and 
in  the  dawn  attacked  and  caught  his  enemy,  whom  he  loaded 
with  chains  and  led  captive  to  Owain.  The  chronicler  adds : 
"  And  he  took  him  with  pleasure  and  blinded  him,  and  they 
divided  between  them  his  share  of  Powys." 

In  the  next  year  Henry  engaged  in  his  first  Welsh  campaign, 
directed  chiefly  against  Gruff ydd  ap  Cynan.  Owain  at  first 
retreated  to  the  hills  on  the  approach  of  the  king,  but  later, 
when  peace  was  made  between  Gruffydd  and  Henry,  he  readily 
submitted.  Later  he  accompanied  Henry  to  Normandy,  where 
he  won  his  spurs.  He  was  killed  in  the  following  year  while 
still  in  the  king's  service. 

Thus  ends  what  we  have  termed  the  Powysian  anarchy.  In 
a  later  chapter  we  shall  have  to  deal  with  times  equally 
troublous,  but  with  disputes  between  Briton  and  Norman 
rather  than  between  Briton  and  Briton  or  father  and  son. 

200 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  WELSH  ROMANCES 

WE  must  now  break  off  from  the  current  of  our  account 
of  the  political  history  of  Wales  in  order  to  devote 
some  attention  to  the  Welsh  romantic  literature  of 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  Throughout  this  work  we 
have  thought  fit  not  to  limit  ourselves  to  the  recounting  of 
wars  and  feuds  between  princes,  of  political  events  or  the 
craft  of  statesmen  or  politicians.  The  plan  we  have  adopted  has 
been  based  on  the  belief  that  the  history  of  a  nation  is,  in  truth, 
the  history  of  its  people,  its  manners,  its  art,  its  literature. 
Aristotle  said  :  "  Poetry  is  more  philosophical  and  more 
worthy  of  serious  regard  than  history."  Were  history  limited 
to  the  recounting  of  the  deeds  of  princes  we  could  but  agree. 

With  this  point  of  view  before  us  we  make  no  apology  for 
introducing  an  account  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
chapters  in  literary  history.  Considerations  of  space  forbid 
any  detailed  recital  of  the  Arthurian  legends  or  of  the  fables 
of  the  Mabinogion,  but  a  few  pages  at  least  must  be  devoted 
to  an  account  of  the  development  of  stories  which,  spreading 
out  from  Wales,  influenced  the  minds  and  manners  of  well- 
nigh  the  whole  of  Europe,  and,  transmuted  into  gold  by  the 
magic  of  the  poets,  troubadours,  and  minnesingers,  created 
that  chivalry  which  was  one  of  the  glories  of  the  mediaeval 
period. 

The  story  of  Arthur  and  his  knights,  in  one  form  or  another, 
has  been  found  scattered  over  Wales,  Cornwall,  Strathclyde, 
Brittany,  France,  Iceland,  Scandinavia,  the  lyow  Countries,1 


1  Morien,  an  Arthur  story  found  in  early  Dutch,  but  probably  translated  or 
taken  from  the  French,  has  been  translated  recently  by  Miss  Jessie  I<.  Weston. 

201 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

and  Germany.  In  later  times  it  became  even  more  widely 
diffused.  Cervantes  himself  was  doubtless  satirizing  these 
stories  of  a  forgotten  chivalry  when  he  wrote  Don  Quixote. 
With  the  Jews  they  became  very  popular,  and  we  have  pre- 
served to  us  several  Arthurian  stories  belonging  to  Hebrew- 
German  literature,  as  Dr.  Leo  Landau  has  told  us. 

We  must  now  attempt  to  sketch  out  quite  shortly  the 
origin,  or  rather  what  modern  authorities  think  is  the  origin, 
of  this  cycle  of  stories.  We  must  also  trace  the  steps  which 
led  Arthur  and  his  knights,  king  of  Faery  and  his  courtiers, 
through  the  written  script  of  the  poet  to  a  wider  conquest 
than  even  that  assigned  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  to  the 
pseudo-historical  sixth-century  king. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  ARTHUR  LEGENDS 

There  are  three  theories  at  present  in  the  field  concerning 
the  origin  of  these  legends.  These  theories  may  be  roughly 
stated  as  follows  :  (i)  The  Arthur  legends  are  a  product  of 
nature-worship  ;  (2)  they  are  not  of  pagan  origin  ;  (3)  they 
are  the  result  of  a  combination  of  stories,  some  pagan,  some 
Christian,  some  belonging  to  Faery,  some  purely  romantic, 
and  some  partly  historical.  Thus  some  believe  that  the  story 
of  the  Grail  has  a  Christian  origin,  but  in  our  opinion  Miss 
Weston  has  destroyed  this  theory.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
whether  her  explanation  of  the  Grail  by  connecting  it  with 
the  ritual  of  the  Adonis  cult  is  altogether  acceptable.  Miss 
Weston  has  spent  many  years  in  the  study  of  this  fascinating 
subject,  and  is  so  well  versed  in  all  its  many  ramifications  that 
one  must,  of  course,  regard  her  utterances  with  every  respect ; 
but  to  the  present  writer  it  seems  that  all  these  stories  are  of 
an  extremely  composite  nature,  and  cannot  be  traced  entirely, 
or  even  mainly,  to  any  one  source.  Thus  that  Arthur  was  a 
culture-hero  is  probable  ;  it  is  also  probable  that  he  was  a 
fairy  king.  We  have,  in  other  words,  to  deal  with  a  saga 
that  developed,  not  in  one  year,  in  one  mind,  in  one  country, 
but  during  centuries,  as  the  result  of  constant  alteration, 
constant  improvement  or  debasement  by  many  bards,  and 
202 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

with  the  addition  of  stories  pleasant  to  the  palate  of  princes 
in  at  least  three  countries — Ireland,  Wales,  Brittany. 

This  being  so,  may  it  not  be  that  the  Arthurian  legends  are 
a  mixture  of  stories  arising  out  of  the  old  nature  religion  and 
of  Faery  stories  imported,  not  improbably,  from  Ireland,  and 
of  folk-stories  which  have  lived  in  all  countries  in  all  ages  ? 
If  this  be  so  it  is  necessary  to  add  that  Arthur  is  a  hero  foreign 
to  Ireland ;  it  is  the  fairy  part  so  prominent  in  some  of  the 
stories  of  the  Mabinogion  which  is  Irish.  It  must  also  be 
understood  that  the  amorous  note  was  never,  or  but  rarely, 
present  in  the  Irish  and  Welsh  stories.  That  came  from  France. 

We  think  it  may  be  taken  that  the  genuine  old  Arthur 
stories  are  connected  with  nature- worship,  and  probably  with 
that  type  of  nature-worship  called  sun-worship.  It  is  possible, 
and  we  think  probable,  that  in  the  first  place  the  tales  from 
which  the  Arthurian  sagas  were  derived  were  based  on  the 
worship  of  some  culture-hero  or  some  sun-god,  whether  the 
Egyptian  Arten,1  the  Gaulish  Artio  or  Artius,  the  Greek  Zeus 
or  Adonis,  or  some  other  god  who  had  a  place  in  the  system 
of  some  early  polytheistic  state.  To  these  ancient  stories 
were  added  in  later  times,  when  the  old  order  of  things  was 
passing  away  and  the  bards  were  casting  around  for  some  new 
material  which  would  at  once  be  full  of  fancy  and  yet  free 
from  the  danger  of  giving  offence  to  their  now  Christian 
masters,  fairy  stories  or  folk-stories,  or  pure  nature  myths 
based  not  on  the  worship,  but  on  the  observation  and  love 
of  the  beauties  of  the  field,  the  hill,  the  dale,  and  the  swift- 
flowing  river.  To  these  again  were  added  stories  of  the  chase, 
of  combat,  of  the  brave  doings  of  princes — doubtless  the 
master  of  the  bard  who  was  singing.  To  take  an  example  of 
stories  of  this  composite  character  we  may  cite  Kilhwch 
and  Olwen.  Here  undoubtedly  the  substratum  story  was  the 
great  boar-hunt.  The  inner  meaning  of  this  legend  has  been 
sought  after  diligently,  particularly  by  Sir  John  Rhys,  who 

1  So  far  as  we  know,  it  has  never  yet  been  suggested  that  Arten  and  Arthur 
are  connected.  In  view  of  what  we  have  said  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this 
history,  we  see  no  reason  why  Arthur  should  be  regarded  as  less  akin  to 
Egyptian  Arters  than  to  Greek  Adonis. 

203 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

has  lavished  ingenuity  upon  its  elucidation ;  but  to  us  it  is 
still  an  enigma.  What  is  clear  is  that  it  is  ancient.  Nennius 
knew  of  it,  and  it  bears  every  sign  of  being  pre-Roman.1  Mr. 
Alfred  Nutt  believes  that  the  story  of  the  boar-hunt  or  Twrch 
Trwyth  is  prehistoric  in  the  literal  sense.  To  this  early  tale 
the  later  bards  seem  to  have  added  innumerable  fairy  stories 
and  tales  of  chivalry.  As  Mr.  Nutt  points  out,  the  story  as 
we  have  it  to-day  is  fragmentary,  but  even  these  fragments 
are  clearly  not  the  produce  of  one  mind  or  of  one  age.  Around 
the  central  core  many  a  tale  has  been  grouped.  Some  of  these 
are  fairy  tales  concerned  with  Arthur,  king  of  Faery. 

Thus  we  see  that  it  is  at  any  rate  possible  that  the  Arthur 
stories  are  in  origin  nature  stories,  to  which  were  added  first 
fairy  stories,  later  tales  of  bravery,  and  still  later,  when  the 
troubadours  were  singing  at  the  bidding  of  their  royal 
mistresses,  tales  of  love. 

If  this  be  acceptable  to  the  reader,  it  would  seem  that, 
granted  these  are  British  stories — and,  as  we  shall  see,  it  is 
probable  that  they  are — the  Arthurian  cycle  and  the  Mabinogion 
tales  are  but  developments  of  ancient  Druidic  myths  originating 
in  the  first  place  as  stories  woven  round  natural  events,  even 
as  the  Greeks  evolved  their  wonderful  mythology  from  a 
poetic  consideration  of  clouds  and  sunshine,  rivers  and 
mountains,  and  nature  generally.  According  to  this  theory, 
as  time  went  on  the  old  nature  myths  or  sun-god  myths  were, 
as  was  natural,  identified  with  some  individual  man.  Why 
Arthur  was  the  name  chosen  we  do  not  know.  Who  Arthur 

1  Reference  may  be  made  in  this  connexion  to  the  reproduction  of  the 
sepulchral  urn  facing  this  page.  This  is  the  urn  in  which,  according  to  that 
eminent  antiquary  Sir  R.  C.  Hoare,  "  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  the 
ashes  of  Bronwen  (White  Bosom),  the  daughter  of  I4yr,  and  aunt  to  the 
great  Caractacus,  were  deposited."  In  the  tale  in  the  Mabinogion  entitled 
Branwen  the  Daughter  of  Llyr,  after  Bronwen  had  died  of  a  broken  heart 
because  Ireland  and  the  Island  of  the  Mighty  had  been  desolated,  "  they 
made  her  a  four-sided  grave,  and  buried  her  upon  the  banks  of  the  Alaw." 
The  place  was  known  before  the  discovery  of  this  urn  as  Ynys  Bronwen, 
'the  Islet  of  Bronwen.'  If  this  urn  did  indeed  hold  the  ashes  of  Bronwen  it 
shows  that  these  tales  are  ancient  and  are,  to  some  extent  at  least,  woven 
round  actual  persons,  but  a  reference  to  the  tale  itself  will  convince  the 
reader  that  they  contain  much  besides  and  apart  from  actual  historical 
happenings. 

204 


PI.ATE  XXXIII.     THE  SEPUI.CIIRAI,  URN  WHICH  CONTAINED  THE 

ASHES  OF  BRON\VEN  204 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

was,  if  he  lived  at  all,  we  do  not  know,  save  that  the  early 
historians,  commencing  with  Nennius,  state  that  he  was 
Emperor  of  the  Britons.  Welsh  literature  always  refers  to 
Arthur  the  man  as  amhcrawdyr,  or  emperor,  not  gwledig,  or 
prince.  If  this  title  has  its  origin  in  fact,  in  the  actual 
existence  of  a  man  who  ruled  in  Britain,  he  probably  held  the 
office  of  Comes  Britanniae  in  succession  to  the  Roman  generals, 
who,  with  their  legionaries,  had  left  Britain  for  ever.  In  an 
earlier  chapter  we  have  considered  whether  he  can  be  regarded 
as  an  actual  person.  For  our  present  purpose,  whether  he 
was  or  was  not  is  quite  immaterial.  We  treat  these  legends 
for  the  present  as  myths.1 

As  an  illustration  of  the  arguments  which  have  been 
adduced  to  prove  a  '  prehistoric '  origin  for  these  stories,  we 
give  in  outline  Sir  John  Rhys'  analysis  of  the  older  stories  of 
Arthur  and  the  myth  relating  to  Airem  ('  the  Farmer '  or  '  Plough- 
man'), who  is  represented  in  Irish  story  as  King  of  Ireland. 
Now  Airem  had  a  most  lovely  queen,  Etdin  ('  the  Shining  One '). 
So  beautiful  was  she  that,  like  the  Venus  of  the  Greeks,  she 
was  regarded  as  perfection,  so  that  to  say  '  as  fair  as  Etain ' 
was  to  reach  the  limit  of  praise.  But  she  was  no  dark  beauty. 
Her  loveliness  was  that  of  the  blonde.  She  was  the  lovely 
Fair  Woman. 

The  third  person  of  importance  in  the  Irish  story  was  Mider. 
Mider  was  King  of  the  Fairies.  He,  like  other  men,  after 
beholding  Etain  fell  violently  in  love  with  her,  and  attempted 
to  persuade  her  to  leave  Airem  and  go  away  with  him. 
Etain  refused  at  first,  but  afterward  consented,  if  Mider  could 
win  Airem's  consent. 

The  story  then  relates  how  Mider  played  chess  with  Airem 
for  stakes  to  be  fixed  by  the  winner.  At  first  Mider  lost,  and 
was  required  to  do  various  tasks  with  the  aid  of  his  fairy 
subjects,  but  afterward  he  won,  and  then  demanded  from 
Airem  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  put  his  arms  round  the 
queen  in  the  middle  of  the  court  and  kiss  her.  Airem  would 

1  It  will  make  greatly  for  clarity  of  view  if  the  reader,  when  considering  the 
Arthurian  legends,  forgets  completely  that  there  ever  was  a  British  king  called 
Arthur. 

205 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

not  consent  at  once,  but  asked  for  one  month's  time,  when  his 
request  would  be  granted. 

The  month  having  elapsed,  Mider  appeared,  about  midnight, 
looking  more  comely  than  he  had  ever  looked.  Airem  again 
tried  to  evade  his  bargain,  but  Mider  claimed  the  fruit  of  his 
victory,  for  which  he  said  he  had  waited  a  whole  year.  The 
queen  having  consented,  Mider  put  his  right  arm  round  her, 
holding  his  weapons  in  his  left.  The  couple  then  walked  out 
through  the  astonished  witnesses,  who,  rushing  from  the  hall 
after  them  the  next  moment,  could  see  nothing  more  of  the 
pair.  At  last  their  whereabouts  were  discovered  by  a  Druid, 
and  the  fairy  king  was  compelled  to  surrender  Etain. 

Other  parts  of  the  same  myth  tell  us  that  Etain  was  born 
thrice,  seven  years  intervening  between  her  death  and  sub- 
sequent resurrection. 

The  similarity  between  this  story  and  the  well-known  story 
of  Arthur  and  Gwenevere  is  sufficiently  obvious.  It  is  stranger 
if  we  take  the  Welsh  story  of  Gwenevere,  not  in  the  form  given 
us  in  Tennyson's  romantic  Idylls,  but  in  the  form  it  probably 
possessed  a  thousand  years  ago.  In  the  older  versions  we 
find  the  queen  eloping  with  Melwas  after  he  had  waited  for 
her  a  whole  year.  In  the  Welsh  Triads  Gwenevere  seems  to 
have  been  reborn  twice,  or  to  have  lived  three  times  in  all. 
This  threefold  existence  was,  of  course,  abandoned  when  the 
romancers  began  to  make  a  king  of  Arthur  and  a  frail  woman 
of  his  queen.  There  are  other  likenesses  to  be  found  in  the 
treble  existence  of  Irish  Etain  and  Welsh  Gwenevere.  Both 
were  blondes  (gwen  means  '  white ').  Both,  again,  are  repre- 
sented as  of  great  beauty. 

Again,  that  well-known  heroine  Iseult,  or  Essyllt,  as  she 
appears  in  the  Welsh  narratives,  is  clearly  akin  to  Ailill — Welsh 
ellyll,  an  elf  or  demon — who  figures  in  Irish  romance.  Essyllt, 
again,  has  two  lives.  We  read  that  King  Mark  and  Tristram 
contended  for  the  love  of  Isolde — "  la  beale  Isoud."  Some- 
times one  and  sometimes  the  other  was  successful,  so  that 
in  the  Triads  we  find  Essyllt  (i.e.  Isolde)  of  the  White  Tresses 
classified  as  one  of  "  the  three  unchaste  Indies  of  Britain." 
206 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

At  last  King  Mark  drove  Tristram  away.  Then  we  find  him 
meeting  with  another  Isolde,  "  Isoud  la  blaunche  Maynys." 

There  is  a  further  likeness  between  the  Arthur  story  and 
the  Airem  legend.  Both  Arthur  and  Airem  are  derived  from 
words  meaning  '  I  plough.' 

It  may  be  remembered  that  it  was  to  Arthur  that  Kilhwch 
looked  when  required  by  Yspyddaden  to  make  corn  ripen  in 
the  space  of  one  day,  as  well  as  to  have  the  land  ploughed 
and  sown  in  one  day.  It  is  desirable  to  note  here  that  the 
Gaulish  goddess  Artio  was  similar  to  the  Greek  Demeter. 

When  we  look  to  Scotland  we  find  Wander  substituted  for 
Gwenevere.  Queen  Wander,  like  the  Welsh  and  Irish  beauties, 
was  faithless.  The  cynic  may  suggest  that  nearly  all  the 
women  of  that  age  were — certainly  all  the  men.  The  connexion 
is  found  in  the  early  English  metrical  romances,  which  sometimes 
give  '  Wannore  '  for  '  Gwenevere.'  So  much  does  the  infidelity 
of  Gwenevere  seem  to  have  impressed  itself  on  the  Welsh  that 
the  name  became  a  term  of  reproach.  Sir  John  Rhys  has 
reproduced  for  us  the  old  Welsh  rhyme,  which  he  has  translated 
as  follows  : 

Guinevere  Giant  Ogurvan's  daughter, 
Naughty  young,  more  naughty  later. 

Of  course  the  Welsh  legend  knew  not  I^ancelot  in  connexion 
with  Gwenevere.  That  part  of  the  story  is  from  the  land  of 
the  troubadours.1  But  his  part  of  paramour  was  taken  by 
Modred  or  Melwas.  These  tales  of  naughtiness  probably 
belong  to  a  later  age  than  the  story  of  Airem  and  Etain. 
Anyone  reading  the  latter  will  be  struck  by  the  delicate  handling 
of  the  elopement.  Btain  only  consents  if  her  husband  permits. 
Mider  is  not  permitted  to  touch  her  without  her  consent, 
though  her  husband  has  promised  Mider  that  privilege.  Their 
departure  is  most  delicately  arranged.  In  truth,  Etain  is 
much  nearer  the  goddess  than  is  frail  Gwenevere.  The  same 
changes  can,  of  course,  be  observed  in  the  myths  which  centre 

1  Chretien  de  Troyes  invented  this  part  of  the  story,  though  Lancelot 
himself  is  the  creation  of  Ulrich  von  Zatzickhoven,  or  of  the  author  of 
Perlesvaus,  or  perhaps  of  a  still  earlier  writer. 

207 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

around  Venus.  At  first  a  goddess,  the  symbol  of  all  that  was 
beautiful,  as  time  passes  she  degenerates  into  a  mere  wanton. 

If  the  Airem-Arthur  stories  are  considered  carefully,  it 
appears  to  us  that  it  is  possible  to  see  some  subtle  references 
to  conflicts  between  light  and  darkness — possibly  the  conten- 
tion between  the  sun  and  the  moon  for  possession  of  the 
morning  star.  This  is  not  the  view  taken  by  Sir  John  Rhys,  who 
rather  regards  Arthur  as  a  culture-hero  like  the  Greek  Mercury. 
He  admits,  however,  that  it  is  possible  to  regard  him  as 
typifying  the  sun,  or  it  may  be  the  earth.  Sir  John  when 
treating  the  central  figure  as  a  culture-hero  lays  considerable 
stress  on  the  fact  that  Arthur  visited  Hades  and  that  Uthr 
Bendragon,  or  Pendragon,  was  one  of  the  names  of  the  King 
of  Hades — the  realm  from  whence  all  culture  is  fabled  to  have 
come.  It  may  also  be  remembered  that  in  the  story  of  Pwyll, 
Prince  of  Dyfed,  Arawn,  King  of  Annwvyn  (Hades),  changed 
places  with  Pwyll  for  the  space  of  one  year,  during  which 
time  he  ruled  with  the  perfection  of  justice  in  Pwyll's  realm, 
so  that  Pwyll's  counsellors  persuaded  him  on  his  return  to 
continue  the  good  government  which  Arawn  had  inaugurated. 

Whether  this  is  sufficient  to  show  that  Arthur  was  the  Welsh 
Mercury  we  doubt.  It  is,  however,  sufficient  to  account  for 
Arthur's  reputed  conquests  of  Norway,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.1 

If  we  regard  these  stories  as  having  their  origin  in  sun- 
myths  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  Gwalchmei  (English 
Gawayne,  French  Gauvain,  Scotch  Gavin),  the  Walganus  of 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  who  is  Arthur's  dearest  companion, 
and  in  a  matriarchal  state  the  heir  to  his  realm,  is  described  as 
growing  apace  until  midday,  after  which  his  strength  declined 
as  rapidly  as  it  grew.  This  looks  as  though  he  stood  for 
sunshine.  His  horse  was,  indeed,  likened  to  the  gleam  of  the 
sun.  Now  Gwalchmei's  brother  was  Medrod  (English  Modred), 
who  is  antagonistic  to  Arthur  and  Gwalchmei,  and  attempts 
to  prevent  Arthur  rescuing  Gwenevere.  The  battle  which 
follows  is  the  great  finale  to  the  whole  story.  This  battle, 

1  We  again  repeat  that  it  is  improbable  that  there  is  any  connexion  between 
Arthur  the  king  and  Arthur  the  hero,  save  in  the  later  developments  of  the  story. 

208 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

known  to  the  readers  of  Tennyson  as  the  battle  of  Camelot, 
was  called  in  the  Welsh  stories  the  battle  of  Camlan.  It  sees 
the  death  of  Medrod  and  the  fatal  wounding  of  Arthur,  who 
had  already  been  deprived,  in  the  struggle  at  the  ford,  of  his 
dear  companion  Gwalchmei.  Here  again  the  conflict  between 
light  (Gwalchmei)  and  darkness  (Medrod),  resulting  in  the 
death  of  light,  followed  up  by  a  final  conflict  between  darkness 
and  the  sun,  may,  according  to  some,  be  seen,  though  here  we 
must  observe  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  habit  of  myths  to  run 
completely  counter  to  nature,  and  it  is  clear  that  never  in 
nature  were  darkness  and  light  both  destroyed.  As  Sir  John 
Rhys  has  said  :  "  The  conquest  of  the  solar  hero  by  the 
powers  of  darkness  is  just  what  we  may  expect,  and  the  death 
of  Gwalchmei  at  the  hands  of  his  brother  Medrod  might  be 
regarded  as  the  close  of  the  incident ;  but  when  the  culture- 
hero,  the  protector  and  guardian  of  the  solar  hero,  survives 
to  conquer  the  representative  of  darkness  and  is  himself 
taken  off  the  scene  mortally  wounded,  such  is  not  the  proper 
ending  of  the  myth,  and  the  solar  hero  should  have  been 
brought  back  in  some  form  or  other,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
return  of  L,leu  effected  by  Gwydion's  wand." 

With  regard  to  these  last  few  words,  it  is  desirable  to  point 
out  that  Gwydion  has  been  regarded  as  bearing  the  same 
relation  to  I,leu  as  Arthur  to  Gwalchmei.  His  wand  was 
capable  of  as  great  marvels  as  Pharaoh's  cane  in  the  Egyptian 
stories.  He  it  was  who,  with  the  help  of  Math,  "  by  charms 
and  illusions"  formed  "  from  the  blossoms  of  the  oak,  and  the 
blossoms  of  the  broom,  and  the  blossoms  of  the  meadowsweet 
...  a  maiden,  the  fairest  and  most  graceful  that  man  ever 
saw."  This  maiden,  who  afterward  became  the  wife  of 
Gwydion's  foster-child,  had  a  character  which  ill  assorted  with 
her  beauty,  for  she  caused  her  husband  to  be  turned  into  an 
eagle,  and,  as  a  punishment,  was  herself  transformed  into  an 
owl. 

The  greatest  of  the  Welsh  enchanters  was,  of  course, 
Myrddin,  or  Merlin.  Of  his  fabled  powers  we  all  have  heard. 
Many  have  read  of  how,  while  yet  a  child,  he  brought 

o  209 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

discomfiture  on  Pendragon's  court  and  exposed  the  goblin 
builders.  It  is  perhaps  not  so  widely  known  that  he  is  con- 
nected with  that  Nudd  or  Lludd  whose  name  exists  to-day 
in  '  Ludgate,'  derived  as  it  is  from  the  British  '  Parth  I^ludd.' 
Both  Lludd  and  Merlin  were,  in  origin,  not  improbably, 
sky-gods — perhaps  sun-gods.  Merlin  is  supposed,  according  to 
British  tradition,  to  have  descended  upon  Bardsey  Isle,  where 
he  remained  with  his  companions,  having  taken  with  him  the 
Thirteen  Treasures  of  Britain.  It  is  interesting  in  this  con- 
nexion to  recall  the  fact  that  the  Greek  grammarian  Demetrius, 
who  is  believed  to  have  visited  Britain  in  the  first  century  A.D., 
speaks  of  a  Kronos  who,  with  his  attendants,  was  chained  by 
sleep  to  an  island  in  the  West.  Perhaps  even  then  a  tale 
existed  based  on  the  descent  of  the  sun  every  night  into  the 
western  sea. 

Thus  it  appears  that  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that 
these  stories  commenced  in  very  ancient  times  as  legends  or 
myths  connected  with  sun-  or  nature- worship.  That  the 
stories  so  created  were  vastly  modified  in  subsequent  ages, 
even  before  they  reached  the  Continent,  is  certain.  The 
general  lines  these  changes  followed  we  have  already  men- 
tioned. We  now  pass  on  to  consider  how  these  Welsh  stories 
spread  out  all  over  Western  Europe,  and  how  they  reached 
the  form  known  to  us  at  present. 

DISSEMINATION  OF  THE  ARTHUR  LEGENDS 

In  dealing  with  the  later  history  of  the  Arthurian  legends 
dates  are  of  importance.  The  Mabinogion — which,  though  it 
contains  many  stories  which  have  no  reference  to  Arthur,  may 
yet  be  regarded,  for  our  present  purpose,  as  the  Welsh  con- 
tribution to  the  Arthur  cycle — comes  down  to  us  in  a  written 
form  which  dates  from  the  twelfth  century  or  later.1  Accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt,  "  The  redaction  of  the  Four  Branches 

1  The  Red  Book  of  Hergest,  from  which  Lady  Charlotte  Guest's  Mabinogion 
is  culled,  is  of  the  fourteenth  century.     An  earlier  Graal,  written  in  Welsh, 
is  stated  by  Lady  Guest  to  have  been  at  Hengwrt  in  her  day.     It  is  now  in 
the  Welsh  National  Library.     See  note  to  Plate  34,  List  of  Illustrations. 
210 


y:  vUi'tan  lunm  MimuMl  *nrtctv  mm  ttinrmwd  flirt1* 
wu  iHittunrtmiftmf  mflflnr  tftvOAntt  HfiWrf  Vtw 
WVJM  emttolf  vtu\  Mitrf  vmtrnwr 

WWW  >8««VWW»«CW*Wfl  rtT^ftC 


w         sw 


HA  et 

u^m  .  eciwoucK 


te? 


PLATE  xxxiv.     PAGE  FROM  "  YSTORYAEU  SEINT  GREAL,"  THE 

EARLIEST  KNOWN  WELSH  GRAAL  MS.  210 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

[of  the  Mabinogiori]  which  has  come  down  to  us  with  a  certain 
amount  of  linguistic  modifications,  and,  perhaps,  a  few  unim- 
portant material  modifications,  is  probably  a  product  and 
sign  of  the  national  movement  under  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan 
(1075-1137)  in  North  Wales,  and  Rhys  ab  Tewdwr  (c.  1070- 
1093)  in  South  Wales."  We  may  take  it,  therefore,  that  the 
Welsh  stories  belong  to  the  period  of  history  we  have  lately 
been  considering,  and  shall  consider  further  in  the  next  chapter, 
which  is  concerned  with  political  history. 

Before  we  pass  to  a  detailed  account  of  the  dates  and 
countries  of  the  various  poets  who  were  responsible  for  the 
spreading  of  the  Arthur  stories,  it  is  desirable  to  point  out  that 
this  period — the  close  of  the  eleventh  and  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century — synchronized  with  a  sudden  development 
in  all  branches  of  native  Irish  literature.  In  our  opinion  it  is 
to  this  time  rather  than  to  any  other  that  we  must  assign  the 
introduction  of  the  fairy  stories  and  the  references  to  Ireland. 
As  Mr.  Nutt  says,  "  We  must,  ...  I  think,  regard  these 
Welsh  story-tellers  to  whom  we  owe  Kilhwch  and  Rhonabwy 
as  men  fascinated  by  the  spirit  and  style  of  Irish  romance, 
and  introducing  the  same  into  Welsh  literature."  Now  what 
Ireland  had  done  for  Wales  it  is  fairly  clear  Wales  did  for 
Normandy.  As  we  have  already  suggested,  the  Welsh  and 
the  Normans  were  not,  apart  from  the  feuds  of  the  nobles, 
ill-disposed  to  one  another.  Kven  among  the  nobility  there 
was  much  intermarrying,  and  the  Norman  followers  and  the 
Welsh  peasants  or  commoners  probably  soon  got  to  regard 
one  another,  if  not  with  affection,  at  least  with  some  sort  of 
tolerance ;  and  it  is  evident  that  the  Welsh  story-tellers  and 
bards  taught  the  Normans  their  old  romantic  tales  of  love 
and  daring,  and  that  these  tales  got  a  firm  hold  on  the  Norman 
mind,  probably  not  later  than  the  commencement  of  the 
twelfth  century. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  consider  the  expansion  of  the 
myths  through  the  writings  of  the  Continental  troubadours 
and  minnesingers. 

The  man  who  is  generally  credited  with  the  popularizing  of 

211 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  Arthur  stories  in  Britain  is  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  or 
Geoffrey  ap  Arthur.  He  it  was  who,  purporting  to  write 
serious  history,  gave  to  the  Arthur  of  Nennius  all  the  attributes 
of  the  hero  of  the  legends,  and  by  so  doing  created  a  wonderful 
British  king,  and  in  consequence  to  some  extent  increased  the 
dignity  of  the  English  Crown  and  turned  into  life  a  figure  who 
had  previously  been  but  a  symbol. 

This  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  1 — who  is  the  very  Munchausen 
of  historians — was  born  about  noo.  He  admits  that  his  so- 
called  facts  are  gleaned  from  another  book,  which  he  says  was 
brought  from  Brittany  and  translated  from  the  British  into  the 
Latin  tongue  by  Walter,  Bishop  of  Oxford.  One  of  the  first 
copiers  of  Geoffrey  was  Robert  Wace,  who  published  his  Anglo- 
Norman  romance  of  the  Roman  de  Brut  about  1155.  Almost 
simultaneously,  or  even  it  may  be  a  trifle  earlier  (c.  1150),  Marie 
de  France,  working  on  more  ancient  Breton  lais,  was  delight- 
ing Norman  audiences  by  her  Arthur  poems.  From  the  form 
her  poems  take  it  is  clear,  however,  that  even  in  her  time  the 
heroes  of  whom  she  sang  were  well  known  to  her  audience. 

The  next  names  which  are  important  are  those  of  Chretien 
de  Troyes,  Robert  de  Borron,  and  Ivayamon — the  first  two 
Frenchmen,  the  last  a  Saxon. 

Chretien  de  Troyes  is  generally  regarded  as  the  creator  of 
the  Arthur  stories  as  we  know  them  to-day — that  is  to  say, 
in  spirit  rather  than  in  detail.  With  him  came  the  love 
interest,  the  lovelorn  knights,  the  frailty  of  the  heroes.  The 
one-time  perfect  Gawaine — the  knight  without  reproach — no 
longer  is  pictured  as  perfect.  He  has  commenced  the  descent 
which  resulted  in  his  becoming  eventually,  as  Miss  West  on 
expresses  it,  "  a  hardened  reprobate,  immoral,  reckless, 
irreverent,  inferior  not  only  to  Galahad  or  Perceval,  but  to 
the  knights  of  later  invention,  and  of  Lancelot's  family,  Bors 
and  Hector."  Chretien,  however,  had  a  lively  pen,  and 
although  he  seems  to  have  known  that  he  was  departing  from 
the  ancient  standards,  he  was  successful  in  making  of  Arthur 
and  his  knights  human  heroes  who  appealed  to  the  great 

1  See  pp.  290-293  for  a  further  account  of  his  life. 
212 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

world  and  in  investing  the  stories  woven  round  their  names 
with  an  interest  which  made  these  tales  popular  throughout 
Western  Europe. 

One  of  Chretien's  most  ambitious  stories  was  left  unfinished 
by  him.  This  tale,  a  conte  del  Graal,  was,  however,  completed 
by  others,  viz.  Wauchier  de  Denain,  Manessier  (both  of  whom 
were  in  the  service  of  Jeanne  of  Flanders),  and  Gerbert  de 
Montreuil.  Concerning  the  unequal  and  conflicting  results  we 
need  not  speak.  What  has  an  interest  for  us  is  that  Wauchier 
specifically  states  that  he  used  as  his  authority  for  the  Gawaine 
stories  the  Welshman  Bleheris  (who  appears  as  Master  Blihis 
in  a  fragmentary  text  called  Elucidation,  where  he  seems  to 
have  been  regarded  as  the  author  of  a  tale  dealing  with  a 
sevenfold  quest  of  the  Grail).  This  Bleheris  is  doubtless  the 
"  famous  story-teller"  whose  name  is  given  as  Bledhericus  by 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  and  as  Breris  by  Thomas  of  Brittany. 
It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  Chretien  and  his  co-workers 
were  using  Breton  and  Welsh  sources.  It  is  probable  that 
Gaimar,  the  translator  of  Geoffrey,  who  was  working  on  the 
Arthur  stories  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  also  had 
access  to  Welsh  authorities. 

In  the  meantime — i.e.  at  least  before  Chretien's  death — the 
hero  Lanzelet  had  been  created.  Who  the  creator  was  is  not 
clear.  An  early  story  called  Perlesvaus,  by  an  unknown 
writer,  contains  a  Lancelot,  and  Marie  de  France  has  a  story 
about  Lanval.  The  German  Ulrich  von  Zatzickhoven  is, 
however,  generally  credited  with  the  creation  of  that  Lanzelet 
who  was  the  pattern  for  the  great  Lancelot  du  Lac  of  the  later 
Chretien  de  Troyes. 

It  was  another  German,  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  who 
developed  the  story  of  Perceval,  or  Parsifal.  Wolfram  tells  us 
that  this  story  of  the  Graal  was  based  on  a  work  by  Kiot  the 
Proven9al,  who  had  in  turn  found  it  in  a  manuscript  at 
Toledo  written  in  Arabic  by  a  heathen  astronomer,  Flegetanis, 
and  that  the  story  of  Parsifal  was  contained  in  the  same 
manuscript.  If  this  were  the  true  origin  it  would  be  imperti- 
nent to  discuss  the  story  further  in  this  book.  As  we  shall 

213 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

see,  however,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  legend  is 
Celtic  in  origin,  and  although  it  is  possible  that  Kiot  lived 
and  was  Wolfram's  authority,  we  can  probably  dismiss 
Flegetanis.  For  our  present  purpose  it  is  desirable  to  note 
that  the  two  kingdoms  of  Queen  Herzeloyde,  though  located  by 
Wolfram  in  Spain,  are  called  Waleis  and  Norgals,  and,  as 
Miss  Weston  points  out,  these  are  undoubtedly  Wales  and 
North  Wales  (the  "North  galis"  of  Malory),  i.e.  the  northern 
borderland.  She  adds :  "  Parzival's  title  throughout  the  poem 
is  der  Waleis,  in  French  versions  le  Gallois,  an  evident  indica- 
tion of  the  Celtic  origin  of  the  story." 

Having  now  glanced  at  the  men  who  were  responsible  for 
the  development  of  the  Arthur  stories  (and  we  have  stopped 
our  account  long  before  Malory  is  reached,  since  the  names 
become  very  numerous  and  their  work  is  to  a  considerable 
extent  mere  repetition),  we  must  now  consider  the  questions 
which  have  been  raised  concerning  the  connexion  between 
the  Welsh  stories  and  the  Continental  tales  of  Lancelot  and 
Parsifal. 

LANCELOT  AND  PEREDUR 

As  we  have  suggested  already,  the  Welsh  legends  contain  no 
story  of  Lancelot  and  Gwenevere.  Even  on  the  Continent 
the  story  had  many  variants.  If  we  take  the  version  of  the 
German  Ulrich  von  Zatzickhoven,  we  find  Lanzelet  made 
the  son  of  Pant,  King  of  Genewis,  and  his  queen  Clarine. 
Their  subjects  having  revolted,  the  king  was  slain  and  the 
queen  taken  captive.  Just  before  the  queen  was  seized  a 
fairy  carried  away  Lanzelet  to  her  abode  in  the  sea,  whence 
she  was  called  '  the  Lady  of  the  Lake/  and  Lanzelet — or,  to 
give  him  his  later  French  spelling,  Lancelot — became  Lancelot 
du  Lac.  This  fairy's  kingdom  was  the  Land  of  Maidens. 

All  this,  as  Sir  John  Rhys  has  told  us,  is  very  Celtic.  Part  of 
it — the  seizing  of  the  baby  Lancelot  by  the  fairy  ruler  of  a 
land  of  maidens — is  known  to  Irish  legend.  As  for  Wales, 
Peredur  takes  the  place  of  Lancelot.  Many  characters  in  the 
Welsh  stories  can  be  identified  with  those  of  the  oldest  version 
214 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

of  the  Lancelot  tale.  Thus  we  find  Gwyn  ap  Nudd  referring 
to  Bran  as  the  son  of  Ywerit.  Iweret  was  the  giant,  the 
oppressor  of  Lancelot's  fairy  foster-mother,  who  was  eventually 
slain  by  Lancelot.  Again,  Mabaz,  a  prominent  character  in 
the  German  story,  looks  like  the  Welsh  Mabon,  though  it  is 
true  their  characters  are  depicted  very  differently. 

Lancelot,  it  may  be  remembered,  married,  after  the  desertion 
of  Ade,  the  Lady  Iblis,  daughter  of  Iweret.  It  was  this  Iblis 
who  was  granted  the  Mantle  of  Chastity  at  Arthur's  court. 
There  is  a  lady  known  to  Irish  legend  as  Eblieu,  and  though 
she  was  not  at  all  good,  her  name  serves  to  show  the  connexion 
between  Iblis  and  the  lady  Bvilieu,  who  is  placed  in  the  Welsh 
Triads  as  one  of  the  Three  Chaste  Women  of  the  Isle  of  Britain 
— an  enumeration  which  has  always  appeared  to  us  to  take  a 
too  pessimistic  view  of  morals,  even  in  Britain  !  In  the  Welsh 
account  she  is  not  given  as  the  wife  of  Lancelot  or  Peredur. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  Lancelot  story  places 
Arthur's  court  at  Caradigan.  This,  of  course,  is  remarkably 
like  Ceredigion,  though  it  has  been  stated  that  the  word  refers, 
not  to  Welsh  Ceredigion  or  Cardigan,  but  to  Cornish  Cardinham, 
near  Bodmin.  In  either  case  Arthur's  court  is  placed  among 
the  Brythonic  people. 

As  regards  the  actual  story.  The  Welsh  version  of  Peredur 
and  Evrawc  as  given  to  us  by  Lady  Charlotte  Guest  in  her 
Mabinogion  is  really  not  at  all  like  the  German  version.  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  there  is  a  connexion  between  it  and 
Chretien  de  Troyes'  early  romance  (late  twelfth  century)  called 
Lancelot.  The  commencements  are  very  similar.  Sir  Kay  is 
early  introduced  into  both.  In  both  he  is  made  to  appear  as 
Arthur's  most  important  follower.  In  both  the  queen, 
Gwenevere,  is  insulted  by  a  stranger  knight  and  carried  off ; 
in  the  one  case,  though  not  in  the  other,  Kay  plays  an  ignoble 
part,  being  represented  as  powerless  to  avenge  the  injury  done 
to  the  queen.  In  both  Arthur  is  merely  represented  as  some 
vague  figure  whom  all  serve,  though  for  no  very  obvious 
reason.  In  both  Gawain  (Welsh  Gwalchmei)  appears  as 
hero,  but  not  as  taking  the  prominent  place  in  avenging  the 

"5 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

queen.  In  both  the  chief  hero  is  represented  as  falling  into  a 
deep  reverie,  from  which  he  is  awakened  by  a  savage  blow 
from  some  enemy  (Kay  in  the  Welsh  story  and  the  Keeper  of 
the  Ford  in  Chretien's  tale)  to  well-nigh  kill  his  attacker.  In 
both  we  have  a  damsel  making  a  highly  immodest  offer,  which, 
though  accepted,  is  taken  no  advantage  of.  In  both  an 
anxious  father  restrains  his  son  from  attacking  the  hero.  In 
both  the  hero  is  made  to  perform  a  miraculous  deed,  in  the 
one  case  reuniting  a  sword  twice  after  it  had  been  broken  by 
him,  in  the  French  version  lifting  a  stone  which  it  would 
require  seven  strong  men  to  move.  Both  stories  introduce  a 
game  of  chess  for  no  very  obvious  reason.  In  the  French 
story  we  also  have  a  reference  to  the  fairy  who  had  taken  care 
of  Lancelot  during  his  early  years.  This  was  one  of  the  main 
points  of  the  early  German  version,  but  is  not  present  in  the 
Welsh  story. 

When  we  come  to  the  main  theme  there  is  a  wide  difference. 
Peredur  was  not  the  lovelorn  knight  of  Chretien's  story.  He 
had  no  amorous  passages  with  the  queen.  In  nature  Peredur 
is  much  nearer  to  Parsifal,  the  Perceval  of  Chretien's  story, 
Perceval  the  Welshman  (le  Gallois),  with  whom  he  has  been 
identified.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  Chretien's 
Lancelot  is  not  the  Lancelot  of  the  earlier  stories.  They  make 
him  a  hero  with  no  amorous  weaknesses.  Chretien  seems  to 
have  felt  that  he  was  forsaking  the  high  ideals  of  the  past, 
and  is  careful  in  his  preface  to  point  out  that  the  method  of 
treatment  was  given  him  by  his  royal  mistress  "  my  lady  of 
Champagne  "  (Countess  Marie  de  Champagne,  daughter  of 
Louis  VII).  In  the  Welsh  story  Peredur  does  not  seek  the 
queen ;  he  is  in  search  of  his  own  lady.  Sir  John  Rhys  has 
suggested  that  Chretien,  copying  the  older  story  of  Peredur, 
went  wrong  and  mistook  Peredur's  lady  for  Arthur's  queen. 
His  explanation  certainly  throws  light  on  the  muddled  move- 
ment of  the  French  romance. 

The  connexion  between  Lancelot  and  Peredur  is  shown 
perhaps  most  strongly  by  the  story  of  Lancelot  and  Elaine. 
Sir  Galahad,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  child  of  these 
216 


THE    WELSH    ROMANCES 

two.  One  naturally  inquires  what  of  Guinevere  ?  Of  course 
the  story  as  given  us  by  Malory  gets  over  the  difficulty  by 
making  it  all  a  mistake,  a  love  plot  laid  by  Blaine  and  a  witch, 
so  that  Lancelot  became  her  lover,  thinking  her  to  be  Guinevere. 
The  truth,  doubtless,  is  that  Chretien  started  the  mistake  by 
mixing  up  Arthur's  queen  Guinevere  with  Peredur's  lady 
Elen.  Later  writers  got  the  Peredur-Lancelot  story  more 
correctly,  so  that  Blen  or  Klaine  again  becomes  Lancelot's  lady. 
But  by  now  Lancelot  was  known  as  the  lover  of  Guinevere, 
and  so  the  witch  stratagem  had  to  be  introduced.  This  does 
not  at  all  explain  why  Lancelot  went  to  live  with  Blaine  in  the 
Joyous  Island.  The  Blaine  of  the  Joyous  Island  probably 
belongs  to  a  different  story  from  that  of  Blaine  the  Fair  Maid 
of  Astolat,  though  Malory  runs  the  two  together. 

In  the  Welsh  Triads  Lancelot  du  Lac  is  given  as  the  father 
of  Galath  or  Galahad,  one  of  the  three  successful  searchers 
for  the  Holy  Grail.  Another  was  Peredur,  son  of  Bvrawc, 
and  the  third  Bort,  son  of  King  Bort.  This  third  hero  has 
been  identified  with  Bran.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Malory  introduces  a  King  Brandegore  (Bran  of  Gower)  into 
his  version  of  the  Arthur  stories,  and  it  will  be  remembered 
that  his  daughter,  the  fair  Helen,  had  a  child  whose  father  was 
Bors,  possibly  the  Bort  of  the  Triads.  It  is  probable  that 
Bors,  Lancelot,  and  Peredur  are  all  variants  of  the  same  hero. 

Peredur  has  also  been  identified  with  Owain.  The  likenesses 
between  the  two  stories,  as  classified  by  Sir  John  Rhys,  are 
somewhat  as  follows  : 

(1)  The  sons  of  Peredur's  host  refused  to  lead  him  to  the 

Avanc's,  or  Addanc's,  cave. 

Owain's  host  would  not  aid  him  to  find  the  Knight  of  the 
Fountain. 

(2)  Peredur  and   Owain   are  set   on   their  way  to  the 
Avanc's    cave    and    the    Knight    of   the    Fountain 
respectively,  the  one  by  a  beautiful  youth  sitting  on 
a  mound,  the  other  by   a  Cyclops  (?)  sitting  on  a 
mound  surrounded  by  wild  animals. 

217 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

(3)  Peredur  slays  the  Avanc,  being  aided  by  a  lady  who 
gives   him   a   stone    of   invisibility.     Owain   in   his 
contest  with  the  Black  Knight  is  successful  because 
of  the  stone  of  invisibility  given  him  by  lyUnet. 

(4)  The  lady  who  gave  Peredur  the  precious  stone  would 

marry  only  the  victorious  knight  of  the  tournament 
she  arranged.  The  I/ady  of  the  Fountain  would 
only  have  for  her  husband  a  knight  who  overcame 
all  those  who  chose  to  challenge  him  at  the  well. 

(5)  Peredur  is  successful  at  the  tournament  arranged  by 

the  Empress,  and  stays  with  her  fourteen  years. 
Owain  marries  the  I/ady  of  the  Well,  having  slain  her 
husband,  the  Black  Knight,  and  lives  with  her  for 
three  years. 

We  add  another  and  leave  out  Sir  John's  sixth  : 

(6)  Both  Peredur  and  Owain  slay  a  serpent  on  a  hill. 

It  is  just  here  that  Sir  John  makes  his  most  interesting 
point.  Peredur  kills  a  serpent  and  obtains  a  gold  ring ; 
Owain  kills  a  serpent,  and  a  "  pure  white  lion  "  whom  it  was 
attacking  follows  him  like  a  greyhound.  Sir  John  has  pointed 
out  that  in  Welsh  lieu  =  light  and  llew  =  lion.  The  gold 
ring  probably  means  the  sun's  disk.  There  was  a  Welsh 
sun-hero,  even  as  I^ug  was  an  Irish  sun-hero. 

The  history  of  the  Graal  stories  we  do  not  propose  to  consider. 
It  is  necessary  to  add,  however,  that  they  probably  originated 
in  Britain.  Parsifal  or  Perceval  le  Gallois  was  also  in  essence 
a  Welsh  story,  being  derived  from  the  story  of  Peredur. 

HISTORICAL  VALUES 

Many  other  points  worthy  of  treatment  remain,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  consider  them  in  one  short  chapter.  One 
question  we  must,  however,  ask  and  attempt  to  answer. 
That  is,  What  is  the  historical  value,  if  any,  of  these  stories  ? 

As  representations  of  the  actual  doings  of  men  it  may  be 
said  that  the  Arthur  stories  have  no  value  whatever.  It  is 
218 


quite  impossible  to  base  any  historical  statement  on  evidence 
so  doubtful  as  the  imaginative  writings  of  poets.  Moreover, 
it  is  clear  that  in  many  cases  the  deeds  ascribed  to  the  heroes 
are  supernatural,  or  at  least  superhuman.  Occasionally,  no 
doubt,  the  story-teller  introduces  some  historical  event,  but 
we  can  only  recognize  it  when  we  know  of  the  historical 
happening  beforehand. 

The  Arthur  stories  are,  however,  of  great  interest  to  the 
student  of  history,  in  the  widest  sense,  from  two  points  of 
view.  First,  we  have  a  peep  into  the  everyday  life  of 
the  times.  The  love  of  war,  of  hunting,  of  manly  exercises ; 
the  position  of  women,  their  dependence  upon  their  knights, 
the  somewhat  unchivalric  view  present  in  the  Irish  and 
Welsh  stories,  though  not  in  the  French,  that  love  is  a  folly 
and  a  weakness ;  the  pictures  of  the  castles,  the  hospitality, 
the  tourneys,  the  games  played,  the  vestments  worn,  all 
these  have  a  very  great  interest  for  the  student  of  those 
times.  The  life  depicted  was,  however,  entirely  that  of 
the  nobles.  Hardly  a  whisper  reaches  us  of  the  life  of  the 
peasant.  But  we  must  be  thankful  for  what  we  have,  and  it 
is  clear  that  the  earlier  Arthur  stories  are  helpful  in  enabling 
us  to  understand  the  type  of  mind  and  the  mode  of  life  of  the 
noble  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  Secondly,  we 
have  a  problem  presented  to  us  of  very  great  interest,  and  one 
which,  when  it  is  solved,  will,  without  doubt,  affect  our  view 
of  eleventh-  and  twelfth-century  history.  We  refer  to  the 
development  of  chivalry.  The  sparing  of  a  fallen  foe,  the 
refusal  to  take  a  mean  advantage,  the  generosity  to  rivals,  the 
protection  of  women — these  ideals  had  an  enormous  influence 
on  mediaeval  history.  It  was  not  until  the  complete  break- 
down of  this  system,  not  until  the  bloody  and  horrible  Thirty 
Years  War,  when  men  became  devils,  who  tortured  the  fallen 
and  outraged  the  fair,  that  it  was  necessary  for  Huig  van  Groot * 
to  give  to  the  world  the  first  system  of  International  Law.  This 
established  law  instead  of  honour  as  the  ultimate  arbitrator. 
Which  is  the  better  we  leave  the  philosopher  to  decide,  merely 

1  Better  known  by  his  Latin  title  of  Hugo  Grotius. 

219 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

remarking  that  to-day  in  Germany  a  school  of  publicists 
exists  which  openly  states  that  if  ever  their  country  were 
embroiled  in  a  great  war  it  might  be  necessary  to  tear  up 
all  the  weak  rules  of  international  law  and  return  to  the 
savagery  of  the  brute.1  This  is  where  honour  and  fair  play 
are  superior  to  law — there  are  no  laws  to  tear  up  save  what 
not  even  death  can  pluck  from  the  heart  of  man. 

It  is  this  creation  of  chivalry  which,  as  we  have  said,  is  one 
of  the  great  results,  or  causes,  of  the  Arthurian  saga.  This 
spirit  of  fairness  in  battle  and  in  love  was,  we  need  hardly  add, 
quite  foreign  to  the  Greek  or  Latin  mind.  It  is  to  the  honour 
of  the  Celt  that  it  was  from  him  that  the  great  ideal  emanated. 
When  it  developed,  however,  is  a  matter  of  great  uncertainty. 
There  is  little  in  Welsh  history  of  the  eleventh  century  to 
show  that  it  had  during  those  years  any  great  grip  upon  the 
Welsh  princes ;  there  is  much  evidence  that  it  had  its  effect 
on  their  minds  in  the  thirteenth.  It  is,  in  our  opinion,  prob- 
able that  the  poet  created  the  ideal  rather  than  that  a  social 
movement  created  the  nobler  view  of  which  the  poets  sang. 
In  other  words,  the  bards  were  responsible  for  the  movement, 
and  not  the  movement  for  the  bard's  song. 

1  This  was  written  before  the  outbreak  of  the  great  European  War. 


220 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  NORMAN  CASTLES 

IT  is  quite  impossible  to  understand  the  later  history  of 
Wales  without  appreciating  the  immense  effect  which 
the  castle-builders  and  their  system  had  upon  the 
people  of  Wales.  The  Norman  castle  was  not  merely  a  form 
of  fortification ;  it  was  the  centre  of  a  social  system.  Around 
it  turned  not  merely  the  warlike  acts  of  knights  and  men-at- 
arms,  but  the  prayers  of  the  priests  and  the  bargains  of  the 
townsmen.  No  town  existed  anywhere  in  Wales  save  under 
the  protecting  walls  of  a  castle.  Many  religious  foundations, 
though  by  no  means  all,  found  protection,  especially  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  near  a  castle  wall.  Such 
justice  as  existed  in  Wales  during  the  early  feudal  times  was 
enforced  in  the  castle  courts  (or,  if  the  parties  were  Welsh,  in 
the  tribal  court).  In  a  word,  the  castle  was  the  centre  of 
worldly  life,  even  as  the  monastery  was  the  harbour  into  which 
those  who  had  devoted  their  lives  to  religion  sailed  in  order  to 
find  peace. 

In  no  period  is  it  possible  to  have  law  or  a  law-abiding 
people  without  having  force  either  naked  or  veiled  with  which 
to  enforce  obedience.  To-day  we  are  protected  in  our  rights 
and  constrained  to  perform  our  public  duties  by  the  knowledge 
that  an  effective  police  system  can  be  set  in  operation  to  bring 
our  tormentors,  or  ourselves,  before  an  admirable  judiciary, 
which  can  and  will  punish  or  constrain,  and  prevent  or  force 
the  doing  or  not  doing  of  any  particular  law  or  lawlessness. 
In  Wales  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  position 
was  so  different  that  the  reader  would  do  well  to  contrast  the 
two  states  of  things. 

221 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

In  the  first  place,  the  King's  Peace  did  not  run  beyond  the 
high-roads  and  royal  demesnes  and  certain  cities,  even  in 
England.  In  Wales  it  is  probable  that  in  practice  the  king's 
writ  did  not  run  at  all.  In  other  words,  it  was  useless  to  call 
upon  the  offender  in  the  name  of  the  king  to  appear  and 
show  cause,  etc.  He  would  not  appear  ;  he  need  not  appear.1 

Again,  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  it  was  always  punishable 
to  murder  or  to  steal.  It  entirely  depended  (in  practice  and 
apart  from  mere  legal  theory)  upon  who  was  the  murderer,  the 
murdered,  the  thief  and  the  robbed.  If  a  villein  murdered 
a  villein  belonging  to  his  lord  he  was  tried  in  the  lord's  court, 
condemned,  and  hung.  So  with  a  thief  who  stole  from  his  lord 
or  his  lord's  dependent.  But  who  was  to  complain  or  try  if  the 
lord  captured  an  enemy  and  gouged  out  his  eyes  and  chopped 
off  his  hands  and  mutilated  him  ?  No  one  !  The  only  reply 
was  war  brought  by  or  on  behalf  of  the  wronged  one's  relatives 
against  the  wrongdoer.  If  the  wronged  one  was  a  man  of  no 
family  he  could  be  done  anything  with  by  his  lord  (in  practice 
and  quite  apart  from  theory) .  He  could  not  appeal  to  anyone  ; 
no  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  existed  to  aid  his  relatives  to  procure 
his  release.  Had  it  existed  the  king  could  not,  or  would  not, 

1  The  writer  is  aware  that  the  extreme  generality  of  these  and  the  following 
remarks  may  be  at  variance  with  that  accuracy  which  history  requires. 
The  picture  is  not  painted,  however,  at  random,  but  after  most  careful  con- 
sideration. As  to  the  King's  Peace,  see  Pollock  and  Maitland's  masterly 
History  of  English  Law,  vol.  i,  p.  44.  Among  the  Welsh,  local  jurisdictions 
were  vested  in  tribal  courts  ;  with  the  Normans,  in  seigneurial  courts  or 
hundred  and  shire  courts.  As  to  the  seigneurial  jurisdiction,  it  depended 
on  the  extent  of  the  original  grant,  but  in  all  cases  of  great  lords  included 
not  only  infangantheof,  but  utfangantheof,  giving  a  very  wide  power  of  life 
and  death.  Welshmen,  unless  they  had  submitted  to  a  Norman  lord,  had 
no  right  of  audience  in  a  lord's  court,  that  being  reserved  to  suitors — i.e. 
tenants.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Norman  retainer,  being  a  stranger,  had  no 
rights  in  the  tribal  court.  Ex  abundanti  caulela,  we  have  occasionally  added 
"  in  practice  and  apart  from  legal  theory  "  to  the  remarks  which  follow, 
but  we  are  by  no  means  sure  that  it  is  necessary  to  limit  the  statement  in 
this  manner.  We  have  had  constantly  in  view  the  various  police  systems 
present  among  the  Saxons,  Normans,  and  Welsh.  The  trouble  is  that  all 
these  were  based  on  the  unity  present  among  relatives,  or  citizens  or  members 
of  the  same  community.  Systems  such  as  frithborh  or  frank-pledge  broke 
down  when  the  injured  person  was  a  Welshman  and  the  wrongdoer  a  Norman, 
or  vice  versa.  The  matter  is,  in  our  opinion,  historically  important. 

222 


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AbGrtionddu  (Brecon 

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White         J5i?enfrith 
Castle. 


WistonJGw.s)        daermarthenC>D- 


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OystermouthlYstrum  Llwynarth]  /    jf 

//JiLew 


WALES 

Showing  the  Sites  of  the 

CASTLES 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

have  troubled  to  enforce  it  with  his  army,  and  his  administra- 
tive officers,  the  bailiffs  and  such-like,  would  have  been 
impotent.  The  relatives,  apart  from  having  no  effective 
writ  which  they  could  sue  out,  had  no  court  to  which  to  apply 
and  complain.  If  the  relatives  were  important  they  could 
complain  to  the  king's  court,  they  could  appeal  to  the  king, 
they  could  fight.  That,  however,  is  a  special  case.  We  are 
considering  the  position  of  a  man  of  ordinary  class.  Standing 
alone,  such  a  man  was  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  the  lord  of 
the  district. 

The  result  was  obviously  to  drive  the  lesser  men  into  the 
camp  of  one  lord  or  another.  The  ordinary  man  purchased 
the  right  to  live,  the  right  to  have  his  wife  protected  and  his 
children  immune  from  outrage  by  becoming  the  '  man '  of  a 
lord.  He  became  the  lord's  tenant,  bound  to  serve  him  in 
war,  to  protect  him,  to  fight  for  him,  to  pay  suit  of  court  and 
to  submit  to  the  jurisdiction  of  his  lord's  court.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  obtained  some  protection.  If  he  were  wronged 
unjustly  by  another  lord,  his  lord  could  effectively  complain, 
even  as  he  would  complain  had  another  kicked  one  of  his 
chairs  about. 

THE  CASTLE 

One  naturally  asks,  men  being  men,  why  and  how  did  those 
men  called  '  lords '  obtain  such  outrageous  powers  ?  The 
answer  is,  the  castle.  Protected  and  safe  behind  their  castle 
walls,  they  could,  as  the  writer  in  the  Ada  Sanctorum  puts  it, 
"  protect  themselves  from  their  foes  .  .  .  subdue  their  equals, 
and  oppress  their  inferiors."  x  Built  in  the  first  place  by 
men  who  could  command  labour,  either  at  the  sword's  point 
or  by  gold  got  from  the  sale  of  slaves  or  the  ransoms  of 
captives,  the  castles  enabled  their  owners  to  bring  to  subjection 
the  surrounding  neighbourhood.  The  inhabitants  were  far 
more  subject  to  the  lord  than  to  the  king.  The  eyes  of  the 

1  Compare  A  nglo-Saxon  Chronicle  : ' '  Bishop  Odo  and  Earl  William  remained 
behind,  and  wrought  castles  widely  throughout  the  nation  and  oppressed  poor 
folk  ;  and  ever  after  that  it  grew  greatly  in  evil." 

223 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

great  rarely  turned  to  view  the  wrongs  of  the  little.  The  lord 
could  do  well-nigh  what  he  would  with  his  subjects  so  long  as 
his  injustice  were  not  general.  General  injustice  would  result 
in  a  state  of  things  dangerous  to  the  castellan  himself,  and, 
consequently,  was  rarely  attempted.  Moreover,  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  the  lords  were  men  of  family,  more  cultured 
than  the  average  man,  not  without  feelings  of  chivalry  and 
honour.  When  this  personal  equation  was  removed,  as  at 
the  time  of  the  building  of  the  adulterine  castles  of  Stephen's 
reign,  we  see  in  what  crimes  power  enabled  the  upstart 
lords  to  indulge. 

We  may  perhaps  take  as  an  example  of  the  deeds  which 
could  be  done  with  impunity  in  those  days  the  excesses 
committed  by  William  de  Breose  in  his  castle  of  Abergavenny. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  William's  uncle,  Henry  of 
Hereford,  had  been  slain  by  the  Welsh  near  Arnold's  Castle 
in  1175.  The  nephew,  planning  a  revenge,  got  a  large  number 
of  Welshmen  into  his  castle  of  Abergavenny,  pretending  to 
have  a  royal  ordinance  to  deliver  relating  to  the  carrying  of 
weapons  by  travellers.  Once  there  he  required  them  to  take 
an  oath  not  to  carry  weapons :  "  That  no  traveller  by  the  waie 
amongst  them  should  bear  any  bow,  or  other  unlawful  weapon." 
Had  they  sworn  they  would  have  become  unarmed,  defenceless 
men  to  be  shot  at  leisure.  They  refused,  whereupon  William 
had  them  condemned  to  death  and  hung.  One  of  these  Welsh- 
men was  a  noble  of  Gwent,  Seisyll  ap  Dyfnwal.  Not  content 
with  putting  him  to  death,  William  sent  men  to  Seisyll's  home, 
captured  his  wife,  slew  her  child  in  her  arms,  and  brought  her  to 
Abergavenny  to  carry  her  sorrow  for  the  death  of  her  husband 
and  her  son  to  the  arms  of  their  murderer.  It  is  to  be  understood 
that  there  was  no  redress  sought  for  or  obtainable  in  law  x  for 
this  grievous  wrong.  Revenge  was  obtained,  as  Giraldus  tells 
us,  seven  years  after  the  event.  As  the  shrewd  Welshman 
observes,  "  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  the  deceased,  having 
attained  the  age  of  manhood,  took  advantage  of  the  absence 

1  It  is  to  be  understood  that  we  speak  of  what  was  possible  in  practice, 
and  not  merely  in  theory.     See  further  for  this  incident  p.  283. 
224 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

of  the  lord  of  the  castle,  and,  burning  with  revenge,  concealed 
themselves,  with  no  inconsiderable  force,  during  the  night, 
within  the  woody  fosse  of  the  castle.  One  of  them,  named 
Seisyll  ap  Eudaf,  on  the  preceding  day  said  rather  jocularly 
to  the  constable,  '  Here  will  we  enter  this  night,'  pointing 
out  a  certain  angle  in  the  wall  where  it  seemed  the  lowest.  .  .  . 
The  constable  and  his  household  watched  all  night  under  arms, 
till  at  length,  worn  out  by  fatigue,  they  all  retired  to  rest  on 
the  appearance  of  daylight,  upon  which  the  enemy  attacked 
the  walls  with  scaling-ladders,  at  the  very  place  that  had  been 
pointed  out.  The  constable  and  his  wife  were  taken  prisoners, 
with  many  others,  a  few  persons  only  escaping,  who  had 
sheltered  themselves  in  the  principal  tower.  With  the  exception 
of  this  stronghold,  the  enemy  violently  seized  and  burned  every- 
thing ;  and  thus,  by  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  the  crime 
was  punished  in  the  very  place  where  it  had  been  committed." 

In  such  a  state  of  society  it  will  readily  be  understood  that 
castle-building  was  one  of  the  quickest  ways  to  power,1  and 
that  around  the  castle  gathered  such  trade  and  business 
enterprise  as  in  those  warlike  times  managed  to  exist. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  we  will  pass  to  a  short 
account  of  the  development  of  castle  architecture  and  of  the 
means  taken  to  attack  and  reduce  the  castle  when  built. 

CASTLE  ARCHITECTURE 

From  the  very  earliest  times  earthworks  as  a  means  of 
defence  had  been  common  in  England  and  Wales.  In  Shrop- 
shire alone  a  very  large  number  of  old  earthworks  still  exist, 
the  most  famous  being,  perhaps,  those  which  were  raised  on 
either  side  of  the  ridge  leading  to  the  summit  of  the  Wrekin. 
As  Oman  has  said,  "  Down  to  the  eleventh  century  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  stonework  was  the  exception,  and 
palisaded  earthworks  the  general  rule,  in  all  places  where 
Roman  works  were  not  already  in  existence." 

1  It  was  not,  of  course,  permitted  to  every  one  who  wished  to  build  a  castle. 
An  unlicensed  castle  was  called  '  adulterine,'  and  was  generally  razed  to  the 
ground  by  the  king. 

P  225 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

THE  MOTTE 

With  regard  to  the  mottes,  burhs,  or  pre-Norman  fortified 
places,  there  is  at  present  a  divergence  of  opinion  among 
authorities.  Perhaps  the  man  who  has  done  most  for  our 
knowledge  of  castle  architecture  is  the  late  G.  T.  Clark,  who 
devoted  a  large  part  of  his  life  to  the  consideration  of  this 
question,  which  had  previously  been  somewhat  neglected  by 
antiquaries.  The  result  was  the  publication  of  his  Mediaval 
Military  A  rchitecture  in  England.  This  work,  which  appeared  in 
book  form  in  1884,  contained  many  papers  read  by  him  before 
various  learned  societies  at  widely  different  dates,  with  the  result 
that  there  are  evident  certain  contradictions  and  inelegances. 

For  our  present  purpose  Mr.  Clark's  monograph  is  important 
because  it  first  launched  the  theory  that  the  burh  and  the 
motte  (or  moated  mound)  were  identical — that  is  to  say,  that 
the  Saxon  burh  was  an  early  type  of  fortified  place  similar  in 
nature  and  design  to  the  Continental  motte.  Thus  we  have 
Builth  Castle  (which  consisted  merely  of  an  earthen  mound 
protected  by  moats  and  ditches)  assigned  to  the  ninth  or 
early  tenth  century,  and  we  are  informed  by  him  that  the 
Norman  marcher  lords  captured  and  strengthened  many  of 
these  ancient  fortresses,  as,  for  instance,  at  Builth,  where,  we 
are  told,  they  probably  contented  themselves  with  erecting 
a  wooden  palisading  on  the  old  mound  fortress.  If  we  follow 
Mr.  Clark  we  must  say,  then,  that  fortified  places  similar  in 
nature,  though  not  in  architecture,  to  the  Norman  castles  of 
a  later  date  existed  in  England  before  the  Norman  Conquest, 
even  before  Edward  the  Confessor's  Norman  favourites  had 
built  their  castles  at  Pentecost  or  Orleton  (the  Aureton  of 
Doomsday,  and  later  known  as  Richard's  Castle  *) ;  that,  in 
other  words,  Saxons  and,  apparently,  Welsh  leaders  were 
throwing  up  these  earthworks  to  defeat  their  enemies  or  tame 
their  own  dependents,  and  that  when  William  came  he  found 
a  country  already  well  supplied  with  mottes. 

1  We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Round's  article  in  Archesologia,  vol.  Iviii  (1902), 
for  this. 

226 


P      * 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

Later  writers,  however,  the  chief  of  whom  is  J.  H.  Round,1 
have  thrown  great  doubt  upon  this  burh-motte  theory,  and 
we  may  probably  assign  the  whole  of  the  motte-castle-tower 
building  to  the  Norman  period.  Even  Richard's  Castle  and 
Pentecost  Castle,  which  were  undoubtedly  built  on  the  Welsh 
border  before  the  Conquest,  were  raised  by  Normans  in 
Edward's  or  Harold's  train.  They  point  out  that  all  the  old 
records  when  dealing  with  the  Norman  mottes  use  words  which 
indicate  original  construction  and  not  mere  adaptation ;  that 
where  remains  of  these  mottes  have  been  found  they  are 
known  to  have  been  occupied  and  fortified  by  Normans  ;  that 
in  many  places  where  Saxon  burhs  are  known  to  have  been 
there  are  no  remains  of  mottes.  In  view  of  these  and  many 
other  arguments,  for  which  reference  may  be  made  to  Mr. 
Round's  article  in  Archceologia*  we  may  perhaps  assume  that 
the  motte,  equally  with  the  castle,  was  of  Norman  or  Con- 
tinental origin,  and  that  before  the  Norman  had  introduced 
moated  mounds  and  castles  proper  England  knew  but  the 
ancient  earthen  ramparts ;  the  Roman  camps,  now  fallen  to 
decay  ;  the  geweorcs,  or  fastnesses  of  banked  earth,  built  mainly 
by  the  Danes ;  and  the  burhs  built  by  the  English,  and  per- 
haps by  the  Welsh,  to  resist  the  Danish  attacks.  In  other 
words,  the  seigneurial  fortress,  whether  motte  or  castle,  was 
absent  from  England  before  the  coming  of  the  Normans. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  the 
palisaded,  moated  mound  lived  on  well  into  the  time  of 
Henry  I.  Giraldus  tells  us  how  Arnulph  de  Montgomery  (the 
younger  son  of  Roger  de  Montgomery)  erected  at  Pembroke 
"  a  slender  fortress  with  stakes  and  turf,  which,  on  returning 
to  England,  he  consigned  to  the  care  of  Giraldus  de  Windesor 
[Gerald  of  Windesor,  younger  son  of  Walter  fitz  Other],  his 
constable  and  lieutenant-general,  a  worthy  and  discreet  man." 

An  excellent  description  of  this  type  of  castle  or  motte 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum.  Of  this  account  Oman 

1  He  is  the  leader  of  the  opposition  school.     Others  are  Mr.  W.  H.  St.  John 
Hope,  Mr.  George  Neilson,  and  Mrs.  Armitage. 

2  Vol.  Iviii,  pp.  313  et  seq.     He  lays  some  stress  on  the  fact  that  the  Bayeux 
Tapestry  shows  the  building  of  a  motte-like  castle  at  Hastings. 

227 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

has  said  that  "  the  description  of  this  Flemish  mound-fortress 
might  serve  for  that  of  countless  tenth-  and  eleventh-century 
strongholds  in  England"  (and,  we  may  add,  Wales).  We 
therefore  feel  justified  in  giving  the  description,  which  is  a 
short  one,  in  full.  The  passage,  translated,  runs  as  follows  : 

"  Bishop  John  [of  Terouanne,  in  Flanders]  had  in  the  town 
of  Merckem  a  mansion  where  he  could  abide  with  his  retinue, 
while  perambulating  his  diocese.  Beside  the  court  of  the 
church  there  was  a  stronghold,  which  we  might  call  a  castle 
or  a  municipium.  It  was  a  lofty  structure,  built,  according  to 
the  local  custom,  by  the  lord  of  that  town  many  years  before. 
For  the  rich  and  noble  of  that  region,  being  much  given  to 
feuds  and  bloodshed,  fortify  themselves  in  order  to  protect 
themselves  from  their  foes,  and  by  these  strongholds  subdue 
their  equals  and  oppress  their  inferiors.  They  heap  up  a 
mound  as  high  as  they  are  able,  and  dig  round  it  as  broad  a 
ditch  as  they  can  excavate,  hollowing  it  out  to  a  very  consider- 
able depth.  Round  the  summit  of  the  mound  they  construct 
a  palisade  of  timber,  to  act  as  a  wall ;  it  is  most  firmly  com- 
pacted together,  with  towers  set  in  it  at  intervals  in  a  circle  as 
best  can  be  arranged.  Inside  the  palisade  they  erect  a  house, 
or  rather  a  citadel,  which  looks  down  on  the  whole  neighbour- 
hood. No  one  can  enter  the  place  save  by  a  bridge,  which 
starts  from  the  outer  edge  of  the  ditch  and  is  carried  on  piers, 
built  two  or  three  together,  gradually  rising  in  height,  so  that 
it  reaches  the  flat  space  on  top  of  the  mound  and  comes  in 
opposite  the  gate  of  the  palisade." 

THE  STONE  CASTLE 

It  was  probably  not  until  the  reign  of  Henry  I  that  stone 
castles  became  at  all  common.  William  I,  it  is  true,  had  erected 
a  few — e.g.  the  Tower  of  London — in  unusually  important 
places,  but  for  William's  adventurers  stone  castles  were  far 
too  expensive.1  By  Henry  I's  time  the  new-comers  had 

1  Practically  all,  if  not  quite  all,  the  adulterine  castles  of  Stephen's  time 
were  of  earth  and  wood.     Their  owners  were  not  men  of  much  substance, 
and  they  were  built  far  too  quickly  to  have  been  well  made  of  stone.     They 
all  fell  like  houses  of  cards  under  Henry  II 's  attacks. 
228 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

flourished  so  well  that  the  stone  castle  was  no  longer  beyond 
their  powers.  Even  in  that  time,  however,  the  shell  keep  was 
more  common  than  the  heavy  and  solid  square  keep.  The 
reason  was  twofold.  The  shell  keep  was  comparatively 
inexpensive  and  comparatively  light.  It  could  be  built  on  a 
mound  of  made  soil.  In  other  words,  the  old  motte  could  be 
converted  into  a  shell-keep  castle.  It  was  otherwise  with  the 
rectangular  keep.  That  massive  form  of  architecture,  though 
one  of  the  glories  of  the  Norman  period,  was  quite  unsuited  to 
being  placed  on  made  ground.  It  required  a  solid  foundation. 
It  was  also  expensive  to  build.  It  had,  however,  the  merit  of 
strength.  To-day  there  are  far  more  examples  of  rectangular 
keeps  in  existence  than  of  shell  keeps,  though  in  the  twelfth 
century  the  latter  were  much  more  common  than  the  former. 

THE  SHELL  KEEP 

The  shell  keep  is,  perhaps,  not  so  early  a  form  as  the  rect- 
angular keep.  It  was,  however,  the  simplest  form,  and  as 
such  we  treat  of  it  first.  It  was  not  so  early  as  the  rectangular 
keep  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  could  only  be  built  with 
advantage  on  the  old  mounds  or  mottes,  and  they  were 
regarded  as  sufficiently  protected  by  wooden  palisading  until 
some  time  after  the  rectangular  keep  had  been  introduced. 

The  shell  keep  consisted  of  a  ring  of  fortifications  surrounding 
an  open  court.  The  fortifications  were  placed  to  form  various 
shapes,  according  to  the  necessities  of  the  case.  Sometimes 
they  were  circular,  sometimes  rectangular,  sometimes  irregular. 
Cardiff  Castle  1  was  an  example  of  the  shell  keep.  The  castle, 
which  dates  probably  from  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth 
century,  covers  a  plot  of  ground  nearly  square  in  form, 
200  yards  east  and  west,  216  yards  north  and  south.  It  was 
bounded  on  the  north  and  east  and  partially  on  the  south 
side  by  banks  of  earth,  on  the  west  and  the  remainder  of  the 
south  side  by  a  wall.  These  banks  are  about  30  feet  high, 
90  feet  broad  at  the  base  and  12  feet  at  the  summit.  Along 

1  The  accounts  of  specific  castles  in  this  chapter  are  all  based  on  G.  T. 
Clark's  Medieval  Military  Architecture. 

229 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  top  of  the  mound  runs  a  light  embattled  wall  about  6  feet 
high  and  2  feet  thick.  At  the  south-east,  north-east,  and 
north-west  angles  the  banks  were  enlarged,  possibly  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  towers.  Mr.  Clark  says :  "  The  earthwork 


.«.»<«     tf 


PI.AN  OF  CARDIFF  CASTI.E 
A  Outer  Ward.  E  Keep. 


B  Site  of  Shire  Hall, 
c  Site  of  Middle  Ward. 
D  Site  of  Inner  Ward. 


F  I^odgings. 
G  Black  Tower. 
H  Town  Gate. 


is  returned  about  70  yards  along  the  south  and  30  yards  along 
the  west  fronts  to  give  support  to,  and  cover  the  commence- 
ment of,  the  walls  of  those  sides,  which,  with  an  inconsiderable 
exception,  are  evidently  very  ancient,  and  were  probably 
executed  by  Robert,  Consul  or  Earl  of  Gloucester." 

Outside  the  bank,  along  the  north,  south,  and  east  fronts,  was 
a  moat  or  wet  ditch  fed  by  the  Taff.  The  total  area  inside 
230 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

the  castle  wall  was  about  10  acres,  within  the  counterscarp  of 
the  moat  about  13  acres.  The  whole  place  was  strengthened 
by  the  raising  of  an  earthwork  some  32  feet  high  a  little  west  of 
the  centre  of  the  north  bank  of  the  mound.  The  earthwork 
had  a  circular  flat  top  some  36  yards  across,  upon  which  was 
built  a  shell  keep,  polygonal  in  shape,  with  twelve  sides  each 
about  the  same  size,  with  walls  30  feet  high  and  9  feet  thick, 
constructed  of  rolled  pebbles. 

The  entrance  was  by  way  of  a  gate-house,  protected  by 
a  tower  and  portcullis.  Altogether  we  may  regard  Cardiff 
Castle  as  a  typical  Norman  structure  of  the  shell-keep  type. 

THE  RECTANGULAR  KEEP 

Of  this  form  Clark  says  :  "  The  rectangular  keep  is,  of  all 
military  structures,  the  simplest  in  form,  the  grandest  in  outline 
and  dimensions,  the  sternest  in  passive  strength,  the  most 
durable  in  design  and  workmanship,  and,  in  most  cases,  by 
some  years  the  earliest  in  date." 

Perhaps  the  noblest  example  of  this  type  of  fortress  to  be 
found  in  or  near  Wales  is  I^udlow  Castle,  in  south  Shropshire. 
The  home  of  I^acys  and  of  Mortimers,  the  residence  of  a  king 
and  the  deathbed  of  a  crown  prince,  the  meeting-place  of  the 
notorious  Council  of  Wales,  the  home  of  Milton  when  he 
wrote  his  Comus  and  of  Butler  when  penning  at  least  a  part 
of  Hudibras,  this  lovely  marcher  castle  is  full  of  historic 
associations.  It  has  other  claims  upon  the  admiration  of 
the  wayfarer.  Perched  on  a  little  hill,  it  looks  down  on  the 
waters  of  the  Corve  and  the  Teme,  which  there  flow  swiftly 
enough  to  drive  a  little  mill  which  nestles  at  the  foot  of  the 
slope.  On  its  other  side,  protected  by  an  inner  and  an  outer 
ward,  it  looks  proudly  over  I^udlow  town,  a  strange  little 
place  full  of  mediaeval  memories  and  quaint  old-world 
courtesies.  The  castle  is  to-day,  save  for  a  small  portion, 
uninhabited  and  little  more  than  a  ruin,  but  sufficient  re- 
mains to  show  how  strong  these  fortresses  must  have  been 
in  the  days  before  gunpowder  enabled  the  attacker  to  blow 
the  walls  up  and  send  his  men  through  the  breach  thus 

231 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


PI.AN  OF  LUDI.OW  CASTI.E 


A  Outer  Ward. 
B  Middle  Ward, 
c  Inner  Ward. 
D  Keep. 


E  Gate-house. 
F  Chapel. 
G  Kitchen. 
H  Hall. 


I  Oven  Tower. 

j  Postern  Tower  and  well. 

K  Junction  of  town  wall. 


made  to  victory  and  to  the  capture  of  the  castle.  Of  course, 
as  lyudlow  Castle  exists  to-day  it  is  more  elaborate  than  the 
earliest  castles  of  the  rectangular  keep  type.  It  possesses 
232 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

the  concentric   defences  found   well-nigh   universally   in   the 
Edwardian  castles  of  a  later  age. 

A  general  description  of  this  beautiful  ruin,  either  as  it  now 
stands  or  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  glory,  would  lead  us 
through  too  many  pages,  and  too  far  away  from  the  history 
of  Wales.  Gazing  up  at  those  mighty  walls,  now  tinted  by 
time  into  a  wondrous  harmony  with  the  verdure  of  the  hillside 
on  which  they  stand,  one  can  well  believe  that  time  after  time 
the  Welsh  failed  to  take  this  stronghold.  One  can  only 
wonder  at  the  bravery  of  men  who,  lightly  armed  as  these 
were,  should  have  attempted  to  assail  it.1 

THE  DONJON  KEEP2  OR  JULIET 

As  time  went  on  the  castle-builder,  benefiting,  no  doubt, 
from  the  experience  of  the  Crusaders,  who  had  marvelled  at 
the  strength  of  Constantinople  and  had  fallen  in  hundreds 
before  the  walls  of  many  a  Saracen  stronghold,  vastly  improved 
the  design  and  structure  of  the  castle.  By  the  end  of  Edward  I's 
reign  we  may  say  that  the  type  was  perfected.  We  have  in 
Wales  perhaps  one  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  this  type 
ever  built.  Caerphilly,  the  castle  to  which  we  refer,  must  have 
been  absolutely  impregnable  and  irreducible  except  by  famine 
or  treachery. 

Apart  from  general  improvements  in  design,  several  smaller 
inventions  had  strengthened  the  hand  of  the  defender.  Thus 
in  the  old  days  the  defenders  of  a  castle  could  not  command 
with  their  arrows  the  ground  immediately  around  the  castle 
wall.  Their  archers  could  shoot  in  comparative  safety  in  a 
horizontal  direction,  but  if  they  leant  over  the  walls  to  send 
their  arrows  downward  they  were  promptly  picked  off  by  the 
besiegers.  Again,  the  catapult  and  the  trebuchet,  of  which  we 
shall  speak  later,  had  but  one  trajectory.  Either  could  throw 

1  The  history  of  Ludlow  Castle  and  a  full  description  of  it  may  be  found 
in  the  works  erf  Eyton,  Wright,  and  Clark. 

2  The  donjon,  dunjon,  or  domgion  is,  according  to  Mr.  Round,  the  moated 
mound.     That  is,  as  we  understand  him,  a  donjon  keep  was  a  keep  placed 
on  a  motte.     We  use  the  term  in  the  sense  given  to  it  by  G.  T.  Clark,  who 
regards  the  donjon  keep  as  one  guarded  by  towers  of  a  cylindrical  form. 

233 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

a  stone  a  long  way,  but  it  could  not  throw  it  high  up  and  at 
the  same  time  a  short  distance  forward.  It  could  not,  in  other 
words,  drop  stones  just  over  the  castle  walls  on  to  the  outside. 
Consequently,  once  the  besiegers  had  reached  the  foot  of  the 
walls  they  were  comparatively  safe.  They  could  start  a 
breach  in  the  walls  at  their  leisure,  or  they  could  resort  to 
fire.  It  was,  however,  early  seen  that  to  prevent  breaches 
being  fatal  the  stones  of  which  castles  were  built  should  be 
small,  so  that  the  extraction  of  some  with  the  aid  of  the 
bore  or  terebra  would  not  cause  the  whole  fabric  to  come 
down. 

The  first  invention  designed  to  protect  the  ground  around 
the  castle  walls  was  the  brattice.  This  was  composed  of  a 
staging  of  woodwork  projecting  outside  the  stonework, 
supported  on  beams  fixed  into  the  walls,  and  guarded  on  the 
outer  side  by  a  screen  of  stout  planks.  Through  the  floor  holes 
were  bored,  and  through  these  holes  the  archer  could  shoot  in 
safety  to  the  ground  beneath. 

Another  method  which  was  adopted  with  signal  success 
at  Caerphilly  was  to  surround  the  castle  with  water  and 
horn-work,  so  that  the  enemy  could  not  fight  near  at  hand  at 
all.  Caerphilly  is,  indeed,  so  strongly  designed  and  built  that 
it  is  difficult,  as  we  have  said,  to  see  how  it  could  have  been 
taken  except  through  famine  or  by  treachery.  No  attempt, 
indeed,  was  ever  made  to  attack  it  before  the  invention  of 
gunpowder,  unless,  perhaps,  by  William  de  la  Zouche  in 
1329 — and  that  attack,  if  ever  made,  was  certainly 
unsuccessful. 

The  whole  idea  of  the  later  concentric  type  of  castle  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  to  raise 
obstacles  in  the  path  of  the  enemy,  so  that  however  he  attacked 
he  would  be  at  some  moment  of  assault  at  the  mercy  of  the 
defenders.  At  the  same  time  the  donjon  keep,  with  its  four 
circular  towers  at  the  corners  of  the  keep,  enabled  the 
defenders  to  concentrate  their  forces  at  the  centre  of  the 
defences,  from  whence  they  could  direct  arrow  and  Greek  fire 
(a  dangerous  defensive  weapon,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  castle 

234 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

itself  might  be  burnt)   upon  the  attackers,  from  whichever 
direction  they  should  come. 
As  we  have  said,  Caerphilly  Castle  represents  the  final  word 


PI.AN  OF  CAERPHH,I,Y  CASTLE  IN  1842 
From  G.  T.  Clark's  A  Description  of  the  Castles  of  Kidwelly  and  Caerphilly. 

I  North  Brook  ;  2  North  Bank  ;  3  Causeway  ;  4  Outer  Moat ; 
5  Platform  ;  6  North  Lake  ;  7  Redoubt ;  8  Inner  Moat ;  9  Middle 
Ward;  10  Inner  Ward;  n  Grand  Postern;  12  Covered  way; 
13  South  Postern  ;  14  South  Lake;  15  Bank  of  the  lake  ;  16  Horn- 
work  ;  17  Root  of  the  peninsula. 

in  castle-building.  Erected  in  1271  by  Gilbert  de  Clare,  Earl 
of  Gloucester  and  Lord  of  Glamorgan,  it  stands  on  a  spit  of 
gravel  in  an  artificial  lake  made  by  damming  a  small  stream, 
the  dam  being  adequately  protected  by  outworks  and  towers. 
If  reference  is  made  to  the  plan  above  it  will  be  seen  that 

235 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

there  is  an  inner  ward  composed  of  a  quadrangular  enclosure. 
At  the  corners  of  the  quadrangle  are  to  be  found  four  large 
towers,  circular  in  shape  and  typical  of  the  donjon  keep. 
Rising  above  the  curtain,  in  the  middle  of  the  east  and  the 
west  fronts,  are  massive  gate-houses.  Encircling  the  inner 
ward  is  a  middle  ward,  protected  on  the  outside  by  a  low 
curtain-wall,  which  could  be  completely  dominated  by  archers 
on  the  walls  of  the  inner  ward.  On  the  outside  of  these  low 
walls  the  waters  of  the  moat  lap.  The  middle  ward  is  con- 
nected with  the  outer  ward  by  two  wooden  drawbridges 
connecting  two  causeways  and  giving  access  to  the  mainland 
on  the  east  and  west  fronts. 

The  outer  ward  was  composed  of  works  of  quite  different 
size  and  design  North  and  south  but  few  defences  were 
necessary,  the  lake  being  so  wide  and  deep  that  approach  from 
those  directions  was  almost  impossible.  On  the  east,  however, 
the  water  being  narrow,  an  imposing  and  extremely  strong 
gate-house  tower  was  built.  From  either  side  stretches 
north  and  south  a  high,  strong  curtain  or  castellated  wall. 
Each  end  of  the  curtain  ends  in  the  water,  and  both  ends  are 
protected  with  towers.  On  the  outside  there  is  a  separate 
moat,  or,  in  other  words,  the  curtain  and  gate-house  tower  are 
entirely  surrounded  by  water.  The  outer  ward  was  also  so 
designed,  being  cut  in  two  by  a  dividing  wall,  that  if  one 
end  fell  the  other  could  still  be  defended  successfully. 

On  the  western  side  the  stonework  was  less  powerful,  but 
a  natural  advantage  had  enabled  the  builders  to  make  that 
side  extremely  strong.  Between  the  middle  ward  and  the 
gate  in  the  outer  western  wall  will  be  observed  a  piece  of 
horn-work  with  a  low  curtain  rising  but  a  little  above  the 
water.  This  part  of  the  fortress  is  again  completely  surrounded 
by  water.  The  attacker  would  have  to  cross  a  sheet  of  water, 
then  cross  the  horn-work  (during  which  time  he  would  be  in 
full  view  of  the  archers  on  the  castle  walls),  then  cross 
more  water,  climb  a  wall  completely  dominated  by  the 
donjons,  cross  a  courtyard,  and  then  commence  to  attack 
the  keep. 
236 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

THE  METHODS  OF  ATTACK 

Even  as  to-day  improvements  in  armour-plating  have 
resulted  in  the  production  of  projectiles  of  such  wonderful 
piercing  power  that  nothing  at  present  known  can  resist  them, 
so  in  mediaeval  times  advancements  in  castle-building  caused 
developments  in  engines  of  attack,  so  that  the  reduction  of 
all  but  the  strongest  and  most  elaborate  castles  was  by  no 
means  impossible. 

A  description  of  the  more  usual  of  these  methods  of  attack 
may  perhaps  have  an  interest  for  the  reader,  and  is  certainly 
not  impertinent  in  the  history  of  a  country  in  which  castle- 
building  and  castle-razing  played  such  a  prominent  part  in 
the  lives  of  the  important  men  of  the  times. 

Castles  were  usually  attacked  by  the  Welsh  in  an  open 
manner,  reliance  being  placed  upon  sudden  night  assaults, 
which  were  either  instantly  successful  or  were  complete 
failures.  The  attacking  force,  once  in,  relied  in  almost  all 
cases  upon  fire  as  a  means  of  reducing  the  castle  to  ruins. 
We  can  picture  mentally  some  hardy  chieftain  leading  a 
small  and  gallant  band  some  dark  and  stormy  night  to  the 
assault.  Each  man  carried  a  scaling-ladder.  These  were 
placed  against  the  outer  walls;  once  over,  fuel,  which  was 
carried  by  each  man,  was  piled  against  the  most  com- 
bustible parts,  and  once  lit  they  trusted  to  the  wind  and  to 
fortune  to  burn  the  lord  and  his  retainers  out  of  their 
stronghold.  Sometimes  treachery  was  at  work,  and  then 
what  we  should  call  murder  and  assassination  took  the  place 
of  fire.  There  are,  however,  examples  of  developed  attempts 
at  castle-razing,  when  all  the  arts  of  war  were  put  into 
operation  in  order  to  bring  about  the  destruction  of  some 
hated  stronghold.  The  methods  then  adopted  we  must  now 
shortly  describe. 

The  most  important  arm  in  those  days,  particularly  in 
South  Wales,  was  the  long-bow.  In  Giraldus'  Itinerary  we 
read  that  "  the  people  of  what  is  called  Venta  l  are  more 

1  Roughly  speaking,  South  Wales. 

237 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

accustomed  to  war,  more  famous  for  valour,1  and  more  expert 
in  archery  than  those  of  any  other  part  of  Wales.  The 
following  examples  prove  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  In  the 
last  capture  of  the  aforesaid  castle  [Abergavenny],  which 
happened  in  our  days,  two  soldiers  passing  over  a  bridge  to 
take  refuge  in  a  tower  built  on  a  mound  of  earth,  the  Welsh, 
taking  them  in  the  rear,  penetrated  with  their  arrows  the 
oaken  portal  of  the  tower,  which  was  four  fingers  thick  ;  in 
memory  of  which  circumstance  the  arrows  were  preserved  in 
the  gate.  William  de  Breose  also  testifies  that  one  of  his 
soldiers,  in  a  conflict  with  the  Welsh,  was  wounded  by  an 
arrow,  which  passed  through  his  thigh  and  the  armour  with 
which  it  was  cased  on  both  sides,  and  through  that  part  of  the 
saddle  which  is  called  the  alva,  mortally  wounding  the  horse. 
Another  soldier  had  his  hip,  equally  sheathed  in  armour, 
penetrated  by  an  arrow  quite  to  the  saddle,  and  on  turning 
his  horse  round  received  a  similar  wound  on  the  opposite  hip, 
which  fixed  him  on  both  sides  of  his  seat."  Our  authority 
adds  :  "  What  more  could  be  expected  from  a  ballista  ?  Yet 
the  bows  used  by  this  people  are  not  made  of  horn,  ivory,  or 
yew,  but  of  wild  elm,  unpolished,  rude,  and  uncouth,  but 
stout ;  not  calculated  to  shoot  an  arrow  to  a  great  distance, 
but  to  inflict  very  severe  wounds  in  close  fight." 

How  far  these  bows  could  shoot  effectively  we  do  not  know 
They  probably  had  a  much  shorter  range  than  the  Turkish 
bow.  With  this  latter  weapon  Mahmoud  Effendij  shot  an 
arrow  482  feet  in  1795,  and  Ingo  Simon  sent  an  arrow  from  a 
similar  bow  more  than  459  feet  in  1913.  The  modern  record 
with  the  long  bow,  we  believe,  is  340  feet,  made  by  Mr.  Troward 
in  1798,  but  that  was  when  archery  had  quite  decayed,  and 
probably  does  not  equal  the  distances  shot  by  archers  trained 
from  childhood  in  the  use  of  the  weapon  for  war. 

To  get  to  close  quarters  with  the  defenders  the  attacking 
force  employed  an  engine  called  a  '  cat.'  This  was  a  wooden 
building  in  many  tiers,  which  was  so  constructed  that  it  could 

1  North  Wales  has,  however,  quite  as  many,  if  not  more,  examples  to  show 
of  rugged  bravery. 

238 


XXXVIII.     ATTACK  ox  A  CASTLE 
Morris  Meredith  Williams 


238 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

be  slowly  pushed  forward  while  full  of  men.  It  possessed  the 
advantage  of  enabling  the  attacking  archers  to  fight  on  a  level 
with  those  guarding  the  walls.  It  had  the  disadvantage  that 
Greek  fire  thrown  from  a  trebuchet  or  catapult  could  destroy 
it,  involving  all  the  attackers  in  one  dreadful  disaster. 

If  the  castle  were  of  such  a  form  or  construction  that  the 
near  approach  of  archers  was  impracticable,  two  chief  means 
alone  remained  of  reducing  it — apart  from  starvation  and 
treachery.  The  one  was  by  mining,  the  other  by  engines  of 
attack  designed  either  to  breakdown  the  walls  by  hurling  heavy 
weights  against  them  or  to  set  fire  to  the  castle  by  throwing 
great  quantities  of  ignited  petroleum  or  Greek  fire  on  to  the 
roofs  of  the  buildings. 

As  regards  mining,  this,  of  course,  was  only  possible  where 
the  siege  was  a  protracted  one.  It  was  extremely  difficult  and 
dangerous  in  the  case  of  a  moated  castle  unless  the  moat  had 
previously  been  drained,  and  there  was  always  the  possibility 
of  the  defenders  counter-mining  and  catching  the  attackers  like 
rats  in  a  trap.  The  general  aim  of  the  miner  was,  of  course,  to 
dig  out  the  foundations  underground  so  that  the  walls  of  the 
castle  fell,  or  to  burrow  right  under  the  outer  walls  and  outer 
wards,  break  out  suddenly  into  the  inner  ward,  and  then,  by  a 
concerted  rush,  burst  in  upon  and  overwhelm  the  defenders, 
who  would  be  defending  the  upper  walls  rather  than  the  floor 
of  the  keep.  In  a  properly  designed  castle  such  a  perfect 
undermining  would  be  well-nigh  impossible,  for  the  castle 
would  be  built  either  on  rock  which,  in  the  days  before 
explosives,  could  not  be  pierced,  or  upon  made  ground  which 
would  slide  if  undermined — though,  as  regards  sliding,  the 
miners  were  always  careful  to  prop  and  pin  with  wood  just  as 
they  do  to-day  in  coal-mines. 

ENGINES  OF  WAR 

If  it  were  desired  to  reduce  the  castle  by  engines  of  war  * 
the  catapult  or  the  ballista  was  used,  or  in  later  times  the 

1  We  rely  for  the  major  part  of  what  follows  upon  Sir  R.  Payne-Gallwey's 
interesting  monograph  entitled  Projectile-throwing  Engines  of  the  Ancients. 

239 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

trebuchet.  Both  of  the  first  two  weapons  were  used  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans.  The  catapult  was  designed  to  throw 
heavy  weights,  the  ballista  to  hurl  mighty  arrows,  against  the 
defenders  or  attackers,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  attacking 
engine  had  to  be  placed  at  least  300  yards  from  the  walls.  The 
missiles  had  to  be  thrown  over  the  walls,  and  the  weapon  must 
thus  have  had  a  range  of  from  400  to  500  yards.  Josephus 
tells  us  that  he  witnessed  a  catapult  throw  stones  weighing 


CATAPUI/T 
From  //  Codica  Atlantico,  Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

the  equivalent  of  fifty-seven  pounds  a  distance  of  two  or  more 
stades — i.e.  from  400  to  500  yards.  Agesistratus  says  that 
Greek  catapults  had  a  range  of  from  3|  to  4  stades,  or  nearly 
half  a  mile. 

The  catapult  usually  consisted  of  a  heavy  frame  with  a  long 
arm  fixed  at  one  end  in  a  skein  of  twisted  rope  or  sinew. 
The  other  end  had  a  cup  or  sling  to  hold  the  missile.  This 
end  was  slowly  pulled  down  by  a  rope  passing  round  a  hori- 
zontal bar  rotated  by  the  aid  of  winches.  When  sufficiently 
pulled  down  a  catch  was  released,  the  arm  sprang  back,  and 
on  reaching  the  vertical  struck  a  heavy  bar  of  wood  attached  to 
the  main  framework.  The  arm  being  thus  suddenly  checked, 
the  missile  was  hurled  forward  at  a  considerable  speed.1 

1  The  form  of  catapult  described  differs  in   some   particulars  from  that 
illustrated  above. 
240 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

The  use  of  the  catapult  must  have  required  much  practice, 
since  it  was  innocent  of  all  scientific  means  of  sighting. 

The  ballista  was  very  similar  in  nature,  and  was  really  an 
immensely  powerful  bow,  with  arrows  in  proportion.  Leo- 
nardo da  Vinci  in  his  II  Codica  Atlantico  gives  an  illustration 
of  a  rather  unusual  type,  which  we  reproduce. 


BAUJSTA 
From  //  Codica  Atlantico,  Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

The  trebuchet  was  an  improvement  upon  the  catapult,  and 
was  designed  to  throw  greater  weights  than  was  possible  in  the 
case  of  the  latter.  It  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  into  siege 
operations  by  the  French  in  the  twelfth  century.  It  was  quite 
developed  by  1280,  when  Egidio  Colonna  described  it.  It  is  the 
subject  of  one  of  Leonardo's  drawings  in  his  //  Codica  Atlantico. 

The  trebuchet  differed  in  principle  from  the  catapult  in 
that  the  motive  force  was  obtained  by  suddenly  dropping  a 
heavy  weight  instead  of  suddenly  releasing  the  tension  on  a 
skein  of  twisted  fibre.  Almost  any  force  could  thus  be 

Q  241 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

obtained  by  making  the  weight  sufficiently  great.  It  is 
known  to  have  been  capable  of  throwing  a  300-pound  missile 
300  yards,  and  must  have  been  an  effective  weapon  of  offence. 
We  have  now  passed  in  review  some  of  the  main  points 
connected  with  castles,  the  modes  of  defence,  and  the  means 
of  attack.  With  us  these  things  are  merely  a  matter  of 
curiosity;  they  form  a  subject  over  which  we  spend  a  more  or 
less  interesting  half-hour.  With  the  Welsh  in  mediaeval  times 

they  were  the  study  of  a  lifetime ; 
they  were  matters  of  We  and  death. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  and 
returning  to  our  account  of  the 
political  history  of  Wales  it  is  de- 
sirable to  add  that  although  the 
building  of  castles  gave  great  power 
to  the  castellans  and  was  an  effective 
method  of  subduing  a  country,  there 
>».  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  they 
were  used  to  torment  or  torture  the 
generality  of  men.  As  we  have  said, 
the  lord  of  a  castle  had  immense 
power  over  the  surrounding  com- 
moners. His  power  was,  indeed,  so 

great  that  they  were  driven  to  seek  his  protection  by  be- 
coming his  men.  The  late  Professor  Freeman  took  the  view 
that  the  Norman  castles  were  the  object  of  a  peculiar 
hatred  on  the  part  of  the  English  and  Welsh.  He  refers 
to  their  occupants  as  devils  and  evil  men,  and  talks 
much  about  dungeons.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that 
the  Normans  were  worse  than  their  generation.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  the  English  and  Welsh  castles  contained  those 
dreadful  oubliettes  so  common  in  German  castles,  into  which 
unhappy  prisoners  were  flung  to  be  forgotten,  as  the  name 
informs  us,  and  to  be  eaten  to  death  by  rats.  That  dungeons 
did  exist  is  certain,  but  they  were  not  underground.  The 
prisoner  was  allowed  plenty  of  light  and  air.  Even  the 
dungeon  at  Castel  Coch.,  which  Mr.  Clark  calls  the  worst  in 
242 


THE    NORMAN    CASTLES 

Britain,  was  not  completely  underground.  The  Normans  did 
not,  in  fact,  rely  on  harsh  imprisonment  as  a  mode  of  terroriz- 
ing. Mutilation  and  blinding — which  were  common  in  the 
tenth  century  alike  in  Wales  and  England  and  in  France,  as 
the  reader  of  the  letters  of  Abelard  and  Heloi'se  will  doubt- 
less remember — thumb-breaking,  and,  in  more  serious  cases, 
hanging,  were  the  methods  adopted  to  procure  obedience 
or  to  punish  wrongdoers.  In  justice  to  the  Normans  we 
must  remember  that  the  Welsh  were  equally  ready  to  practise 
similar  cruelties — and  that  not  merely  on  captured  Normans, 
but  upon  their  own  people  and  their  own  relatives. 

We  make  these  remarks,  not  in  order  to  justify  Norman 
aggression  or  Norman  cruelty,  but  because  it  is  very  desirable 
to  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  Normans  were  righting  the 
Welsh  princes  rather  than  the  Welsh  people.  Occasionally 
some  act  of  aggression,  some  wrongful  exaction,  some  injustice 
roused  the  men  of  Wales,  and  then  they  swept  away  castle 
after  castle.  For  the  most  part,  however,  they  lived  under 
the  Norman  castellans  quite  as  prosperously  as  under  their 
own  tribal  chiefs.  Again,  it  must  be  understood  that  through- 
out the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  although  we  shall 
speak  of  this  or  that  Welsh  prince  ruling  in  Powys,  Deheubarth, 
or  Gwynedd,  such  princes  had  sworn  fealty  to  the  English 
king  and  had  to  recognize  the  presence  of  Norman  lords  in 
their  territories.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  assert  that  after 
the  operations  of  the  earlier  marcher  lords  Wales  was  com- 
pletely independent.  It  was  not  until  the  national  movement 
under  the  lylywelyns,  following  upon  the  temporary  break-up 
of  the  English  polity  under  John,  that  the  claim  of  complete 
independence  was  made — a  claim  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was 
finally  negatived  by  Edward  I. 

Throughout  all  these  years,  however,  although  Welsh 
princes  were  placing  their  hands  between  those  of  English 
sovereigns,  tendering  homage  and  swearing  fealty,  the  Welsh 
people  lived  on  a  separate  nation,  preserving  their  own  peculiar 
characteristics  and  their  inherent  love  of  freedom.  They 
have  remained  a  separate  nation  from  the  English  even  to 

243 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

this  present  date,  when  both  Norman  castles  and  Welsh 
princes  have  passed  away.  As  Lord  Chief  Justice  Crewe 
said  :  "  Time  hath  his  revolutions  ;  there  must  be  a  period  and 
an  end  to  all  temporal  things,  an  end  of  names  and  dignities, 
and  whatsoever  is  terrene.  And  why  not  of  De  Vere  ?  For 
where  is  Bohun  ?  Where  is  Mowbray  ?  Where  is  Mortimer  ? 
Nay,  which  is  more,  and  most  of  all,  where  is  Plantagenet  ?  " 

The  castles  have  gone.  No  longer  do  men-at-arms  walk  the 
castle  wards,  or  archers  shape  their  arrows  in  the  tower 
chambers ;  life  no  longer  clings  around  the  castle  wall ; 
princes  no  longer  lead  the  Welsh  to  battle.  But  the  Welsh 
nation  is  still  a  nation  ;  the  Welsh  language  is  still  a  living 
means  of  intercourse ;  Welsh  characteristics  have  proved 
stronger  than  the  conqueror  of  Norman  castles — Time. 


244 


CHAPTER  XIV 
GRUFFYDD  AP  CYNAN 

UVED  1054-1137;    REIGNED  INTERMITTENTLY  BETWEEN 

1075-113? 

THE  prince  whose  life  forms  the  subject  of  this  chapter 
possessed  qualities  which  require  a  fuller  treatment 
than  has  been  accorded  in  our  earlier  pages  to  the 
contemporary  lords  of  Powys  and  Deheubarth. 

The  writer  of  to-day  is  enabled  to  give  some  details  of  his 
life,  since  Gruffydd  is  the  subject  of  a  biography  written,  not 
improbably,  shortly  after  his  death.1  This  book,  though  ob- 
viously the  work  of  a  cleric  prejudiced  in  favour  of  the  prince 
whose  life  he  is  describing,  is  in  the  main  historically  accurate. 

Gruffydd,  whose  father  Cynan  was  rightfully  king  of 
Gwynedd,  was  born  in  Ireland,  to  which  country  Cynan 
retired  during  the  ascendancy  of  Gruffydd  ap  I/lywelyn. 
Cynan,  indeed,  seems  to  have  been  almost  unknown  to  the 
Welsh  of  the  next  generation,  so  that  we  sometimes  find 
Gruffydd  referred  to  as  Gruffydd  the  grandson  of  lago.  This 
lago  was  the  son  of  Idwal  ap  Meurig,  and  was  king  of  Gwynedd 
until  1039,  when  he  was  slain  by  his  own  men  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Gruffydd  ap  I^lywelyn.  Though  Cynan  made 
certain  attempts  to  regain  his  father's  kingdom,  they  were  all 
unsuccessful,  and  we  find  him  contenting  himself  with  a  life 
of  repose  in  exile.  He  married  Ragnaillt,  daughter  of  Olaf , 
king  of  Dublin,  the  son  of  King  Sitruic  of  the  Silken  Beard. 

Gruffydd,  the  child  of  this  union,  was  born  in  1054  in  Dublin, 
in  the  religious  foundation  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  seems 

1  Mr.  Arthur  Jones'  excellent  edition  of  the  Hanes  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  has 
been  mainly  used  in  this  chapter. 

245 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

to  have  been  educated  or  reared  at  Swords,  a  short  distance  to 
the  north  of  Dublin,  though  another  account  says  that  he  was 
born  and  reared  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Early  in  life  he  seems  to  have  been  spurred  on  by  his  mother 
to  make  an  attempt  to  recover  his  rightful  inheritance.  She 
told  him  how  Gwynedd,  his  own  country,  was  being  ruled  by 
usurpers  and  tyrants,  Cynwric  ap  Rhiwallon  and  Trahaearn 
ap  Caradoc.  These  two  princes  had  seized  Gwynedd  on  the 
death  of  Bleddyn,  Trahaearn  claiming  as  Bleddyn's  cousin 
and  seizing  Mon  and  Arvon,  Cynwric  ap  Rhiwallon  of  Maelor 
making  good  his  claim,  apparently  by  force,  to  I^leyn. 

THE  FIRST  EXPEDITION 

Gruffydd,  fired  by  the  recital  of  the  wrongs  which  had  been 
committed  against  him  and  his  people,  begged  aid  of  the  king 
of  Dublin,  which,  to  his  joy,  was  readily  granted.  We  find 
him  setting  out  with  many  ships  and  Irish  and  Danish  men 
to  conquer  Gwynedd. 

The  expedition  made  for  Abermenai,  a  port  on  the  western 
end  of  the  Menai  Strait,  near  Caernarvon.  Having  landed,  the 
young  leader  sent  messengers  to  the  men  of  M6n  and  Arvon 
and  to  certain  important  Welsh  noblemen.  He  also  sought 
aid  from  Robert  of  Rhuddlan.  The  reception  accorded  him 
showed  that  his  countrymen  were  eager  to  throw  off  the 
supremacy  of  the  usurpers.  Robert  of  Rhuddlan  promised 
aid,  and,  in  fact,  sent  sixty  of  his  best  soldiers  to  help 
Gruffydd  in  the  coming  struggle.  Gruffydd  was  also  cheered 
by  the  prophecy  of  Tangwystyl,  a  prophetess,  and  a  relation 
of  his,  who  foretold  that  he  would  rule. 

Gruffydd  now  collected  a  small  band  of  stalwarts,  including 
the  men  Robert  had  supplied,  and  sent  them  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  three  sons  of  Merwydd  to  attempt  the  capture  or 
destruction  of  Cynwric.  The  expedition  was  successful,  and 
Einion,  a  youth  of  Arvon,  brought  the  glad  tidings  to  Gruffydd 
that  Cynwric  had  been  surprised  and  he  and  many  of  his 
followers  slain.  For  the  bringing  of  this  good  news  Gruffydd 
rewarded  the  messenger  with  a  beautiful  woman,  as  he  desired. 
246 


Gruffydd  now  decided  to  lead  his  main  host  in  person 
against  the  other  usurper,  Trahaearn,  who  was  then  at 
Meirionydd.  The  opposing  forces  met  at  a  place  called 
Gwaet  Erw,  or  '  The  Bloody  Acre.'  The  result  is  thus 
described  by  the  cleric  biographer  :  "  God  granted  [Gruffydd] 
victory  over  his  enemies  in  that  day,  and  many  thousands  fell 
on  the  part  of  Trahaearn,  and  he,  lamenting,  escaped  with 
difficulty  and  a  few  [men]  with  him  from  the  battle.  Gruffydd 
and  his  host  pursued  him  through  plain  and  mountain  to  the 
borders  of  his  own  land  [Powys].  Therefore  Gruffydd  was 
exalted  from  that  day  forth  and  was  rightfully  called  King  of 
Gwynedd." 

Gruffydd  was  not,  however,  as  yet  firmly  established  in  his 
principality.  Although  doubtless  he  gained  some  fame  and 
applause  from  his  successful  despoiling  of  Rhuddlan  Castle, 
which  we  have  already  referred  to,1  he  seems  to  have  incurred 
the  hatred  of  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  his  own  subjects. 
We  read,  indeed,  that  after  his  victory  over  Trahaearn  he 
began  "  to  pacify  the  kingdom  and  to  organize  the  people  and 
to  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron."  This,  together  with  the 
ascendancy  of  his  Irish  mercenaries,  probably  accounts  for  the 
revolt  which  followed. 

Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  we  find  the  three  sons  of 
Merwydd  leading  the  men  of  I/leyn  against  the  leader  whom  so 
short  a  time  before  they  had  been  aiding.  The  Irish  retainers 
were  attacked  and  many  were  slain.  The  evil  news  was  soon 
carried  to  Trahaearn,  who  instantly  determined  to  take 
advantage  of  the  disaffection  in  Gruffydd's  ranks.  He,  with 
Gwrgeneu  ap  Seisyll,  joined  in  an  attack  on  Gruffydd,  valuable 
aid  being  rendered  to  the  allies  by  the  leaders  of  the  revolt. 
Not  only  had  I^leyn  and  the  sons  of  Merwydd  revolted,  but 
the  men  of  Eifyonydd  also  '  betrayed '  Gruffydd.  In  addition 
to  this  defection  we  read  that  Tewdwr  and  Collwyn,  leaders 
in  Anglesey,  also  turned  against  Gruffydd. 

Gruffydd  was  now  hard  pressed.  He  had  only  the  men  of 
Mon  and  Arvon  and  a  few  Danes  and  Irishmen  to  assist  him. 

t  See  p.  1 86. 

247 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

With  these,  however,  he  went  to  meet  his  enemies.  In  the 
fight  which  ensued  we  read  that  "  King  Gruffydd  sat  on  his 
horse  in  his  troop  with  his  flashing  sword  mowing  both  traitors 
and  enemies,  like  Agamemnon,  King  of  Phrygia,  of  old  in  the 
fight  of  Troy.  Then  Tewdwr,  a  youth  from  Anglesey,  arch- 
betrayer  of  Gruffydd,  approached  with  streaming  sword  and 
moved  aside  to  come  to  his  saddle-bow  behind  his  saddle." 

The  attempted  murder  was  prevented  by  one  of  Gruff ydd's 
knights,  who  persuaded  his  prince  to  give  up  the  unequal 
struggle  and  take  ship  for  Ireland. 

SECOND  EXPEDITION 

On  his  return  to  Ireland  Gruffydd  was  urged  to  renew  his 
attempt  at  conquest.  This  time  he  was  furnished  with  a  fleet 
of  thirty  ships  full  of  Irishmen  and  Danes.  Again  he  made 
for  Abermenai,  where  he  disembarked  his  men. 

Trahaearn,  anticipating  attack,  sought  to  strengthen  his 
position  by  retreating  to  Meirionydd,  where  he  concentrated 
his  forces.  Gruffydd,  on  the  other  hand,  withdrew  his  followers 
who  lived  in  Lleyn  and  Arvon  to  Mon,  together  with  their 
property.  A  plan  which  made  for  safety  when  an  attack  from 
Trahaearn  was  anticipated  had  the  unfortunate  result  of 
putting  near  to  the  piratical  Danes,  who  had  accompanied 
him  from  Ireland,  much  booty.  They  promptly  took  advan- 
tage of  the  opportunity,  and,  despite  Gruff  ydd's  refusal  to 
permit  them  to  plunder  the  Welsh,  seized  all  the  spoil  they 
could  and  carried  it  and  their  leader  off  to  Ireland. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  Norman  lords  Fat  Hugh 
of  Chester,  Robert  of  Rhuddlan,  and  Walter  de  I/acy,  led  by 
Gwrgeneu  ap  Seisyll,  traversed  the  mountains  of  Eryri  and 
ravaged  Ivleyn,  so  that,  in  the  words  of  the  biographer,  "  the 
country  was  a  desert  for  eight  years  .  .  .  the  inhabitants  of  this 
country  were  scattered  portionless  and  needy  into  the  world." 

THIRD  EXPEDITION 

Gruffydd  again  succeeded  in  raising  a  force  in  Ireland,  being 
aided  by  Diarmiad  mac  Mael-na-mbo.  He  gradually  assembled 
248 


GRUFFYDD    AP    CYNAN 

a  fleet  manned  by  Danes,  Irishmen,  and  Britons,  and  he  set 
sail  again  for  Wales  in  1081,  some  six  years  after  the  revolt  of 
the  men  of  I,leyn.  This  time  contrary  winds  carried  him  to 
Porthclais,  near  St.  David's,  where  he  was  met  by  Rhys,  king 
of  Deheubarth. 

The  meeting  of  the  two  dispossessed  kings  as  recounted  by 
Gruffydd's  biographer  is  interesting,  and  we  relate  it  in  the  words 
of  the  old-time  scribe.  Rhys,  hastening  to  meet  Gruffydd,  fell 
on  his  knees,  saying,  "  '  Welcome  Gruffydd,  king  of  the  kings 
of  Wales.  To  you  I  fly.  Before  you  I  fall  upon  my  knees  to 
beseech  your  help  and  your  support.'  '  Who  are  you  ?  '  said 
Gruffydd,  '  and  wherefore  are  you  come  hither  ?  '  'I  am 
Rhys/  said  he,  '  son  of  Tewdwr,  lord  of  this  dominion  a  little 
while  ago,  and  now  I  am  as  an  outcast  and  a  fugitive,  and 
almost  a  nonentity,  hiding  in  this  sanctuary.'  '  Who  is  it  that 
put  you  to  flight  ?  '  quoth  Gruffydd.  '  My  lord/  said  the 
other,  '  three  kings  of  the  chief  lands  of  Wales  with  their  hosts 
descended  upon  my  provinces  lately,  and  daily  they  are 
plundering  it/  '  Who/  said  Gruffydd,  '  are  the  kings  who  go 
among  thy  people  and  thy  possessions  in  so  warlike  a  manner 
as  this  ?  '  '  Caradoc  ap  Gruffydd/  said  he,  '  of  Gwent  Uch 
Coed  and  Iscoed,  and  the  men  of  Gwent,  and  the  men  of 
Glamorgan,  and  many  Norman  arbalisters  with  them  ;  Meilir 
ap  Rhiwallon  and  the  men  of  Powys  with  him,  King  Trahaearn 
and  the  men  of  Arwystli.' 

"  When  Gruffydd  heard  the  name  of  the  usurper,  he  snorted 
with  rage,  and  demanded  of  him  [Rhys]  what  he  would  give 
him  for  fighting  on  his  behalf  against  these  men.  '  Verily/ 
said  Rhys,  '  the  half  of  my  kingdom  I  will  give  you,  and 
besides  this  I  will  do  homage  to  you.'  " 

The  terms  seem  to  have  been  satisfactory  to  Gruffydd,  who 
truly  had  little  to  lose  by  a  compact  of  such  a  nature.  The 
two  princes  took  an  oath  of  alliance  on  relics,  and,  this  sacred 
ceremony  having  been  performed,  hastened  to  attack  their 
enemies.  Gruffydd's  opponents  were  Trahaearn,  Meilyr  ap 
Rhiwallon,  and  Caradog  ap  Gruffydd.  The  exact  site  of  the 
battle  which  resulted  has  not  been  finally  determined.  We 

249 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

will  accept  the  identification  of  it  with  Mynydd  Cam  Ingle, 
near  Newport,  in  Pembroke,  as  correct.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
battle,  known  as  the  battle  of  Mynydd  Carn,  had  an  important 
effect  upon  Welsh  history. 

Gruffydd's  host,  which  had  left  St.  David's,  after  having 
received  the  blessing  of  Bishop  Sulien,  "  the  wisest  of 
the  Britons,"  came  up  with  the  enemy  about  eventide. 
The  more  timid  Rhys  seems  to  have  wished  to  postpone 
the  struggle  until  the  next  day.  "  I/ord,  let  us  delay  the 
battle  until  the  morrow,  for  it  is  evening  now  and  the  day 
is  spent,"  we  hear  him  exclaim.  Gruffydd  replied:  "You 
delay  it  if  you  desire :  I  am  for  battle  and  shall  charge  upon 
them." 

True  to  his  resolve,  Gruffydd,  who,  we  are  informed,  was 
"  very  brave  in  battle,"  rushed  into  the  fray.  His  men, 
including  the  "Irish  black-devils"  and  Danes,  armed  with 
two-edged  axes  and  iron  flails,  struck  terror  into  the  enemy, 
approaching  as  they  did  through  the  twilight.  It  is  evident 
that  the  men  of  Powys  did  not  give  way  without  a  struggle. 
In  the  result,  however,  victory  lay  with  Gruffydd.  Meilyr  and 
Caradog  were  both  slain.  Of  Trahaearn  we  are  told  that  he 
was  "  pierced  in  the  centre  until  he  was  on  the  ground  dying, 
biting  with  his  teeth  the  long  grass,  and  groping  about  to 
come  upon  his  weapons ;  and  Gweharis,  the  Irishman,  made 
bacon  of  him  as  of  a  pig." 

Gruffydd,  as  usual,  followed  up  his  victory  with  vigour.  He 
and  his  followers  pursued  the  beaten  army  "  through  groves 
and  glens  and  marshes  and  mountains  throughout  that  night 
by  the  moon  and  throughout  the  following  day."  The  losses 
then  incurred  by  the  Welsh  of  the  south  and  east  must  have 
crippled  Powys  and  South  Wales  for  many  years. 

In  this  pursuit  of  the  vanquished  Rhys  does  not  appear  to 
have  taken  part.  Indeed,  we  read  that,  fearing  treachery  on 
the  part  of  Gruffydd,  he  retired  secretly  from  the  battle  about 
the  time  "  when  man  and  bush  had  the  same  colour."  The 
reason  for  this  defection  is  not  clear ;  the  result  was  the 
harrying  of  Rhys'  possessions. 
250 


GRUFFYDD    AP    CYNAN 

GRUFFYDD  A  PRISONER 

Gruffydd  now  seems  to  have  indulged  in  a  plundering 
expedition.  We  read  of  his  devastating  Arwystli,  destroying 
and  slaying  the  peasantry,  bearing  into  captivity  its  women 
and  maidens.  He  then  turned  his  attention  to  Powys,  "  where 
he  showed  on  the  journey  cruelty  to  his  opponents,"  and 
again  we  read,  "  he  spared  not  so  much  as  the  churches." 
Whether  this  impious  act  turned  the  tide  of  fortune  we  know 
not,  but  shortly  afterward  Gruffydd  was  a  victim  of  the  plot 
which  resulted  in  his  imprisonment  in  Fat  Hugh's  city  of 
Chester  for  many  years 

We  are  told  that  "  as  he  was  enjoying  the  kingdom  according 
to  custom,  Meirion  the  Red,  his  baron,  was  stirred  by  an 
arrow  of  the  devil  and  accused  him  before  Earl  Hugh  of 
Chester."  Meirion  succeeded  in  enticing  Gruffydd  to  an 
unprotected  place  at  Edeyrnyon  to  meet  Hugh  of  Chester 
and  Hugh  (?  Roger)  of  Shrewsbury.  Gruffydd's  "foreigners" 
went  with  him.  In  the  result  Gruffydd  was  seized  and 
dragged  off  to  Chester  Gaol,  where  he  was  placed  in  the 
worst  cell.  The  thumbs  of  the  "  foreigners  "  (probably  the 
Irish  and  Danish  mercenaries)  were  broken  so  that  in  future 
they  could  not  use  the  bow  or  direct  the  spear. 

This  imprisonment,  which  commenced  in  1081,  lasted  prob- 
ably until  1093.  In  the  meantime  the  Normans  pushed  ahead 
with  their  castle-building  in  North  Wales,  as  we  have  seen. 

We  are  now  introduced  to  the  romantic  story  of  Cynwric 
the  Tall,  who,  while  on  a  visit  to  Chester  to  buy  necessaries, 
saw  his  king  sitting  in  the  market-place  loaded  with  chains, 
an  object  of  derision.  It  was  dinner-time  and  the  burgesses 
were  indoors  eating.  Cynwric  seized  his  opportunity,  lifted 
up  the  fettered  king,  and  bore  him  away  unperceived.  The 
most  daring  part  of  the  rescue  having  been  performed  safely, 
we  find  Cynwric  maintaining  his  lord  secretly  in  his  house 
while  Gruffydd  regained  his  strength.  As  soon  as  Gruffydd 
could  bear  the  toil  of  travelling  he  was  taken  by  night  to 
Anglesey,  where  he  was  supported  by  Sandef,  son  of  Aere. 

251 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Thence  he  escaped  to  Ireland,  to  return  soon  after  with 
more  Irish  aid.  Again  he  made  for  Abermenai,  but  con- 
trary winds  took  him  to  Forth  Honddu,  in  Deheubarth. 
We  find  him  attacked  and  hunted  by  the  men  of  Deheu- 
barth (probably  the  Normans),  so  that  he  was  compelled 
to  flee  to  Ardudwy,  where,  we  read,  "  men  pitied  him  and 
ministered  to  him  secretly  in  desert  caves."  As  time  went 
on  followers  slowly  joined  him,  and  he  was  soon  powerful 
enough  to  lead  a  plundering  expedition  against  Earl  Hugh. 
As  yet,  however,  he  had  not  the  resources  to  carry  on  the 
struggle,  and  again  he  made  Ireland  his  sanctuary. 

FIFTH  EXPEDITION 

From  Ireland  he  seems  to  have  passed  over  to  the  Isle  of 
Man,  where  he  sought  and  obtained  aid  from  King  Guthrie. 
Setting  out  with  a  considerable  fleet  of  sixty  ships,  he  landed 
in  Anglesey,  where  he  fought  an  indecisive  battle  with  the 
Normans.  Unable  to  make  good  his  footing,  he  again  set 
sail,  his  fleet  making  for  the  Islands.  Gruffydd  himself  broke 
away  from  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  anchored  off  the  Skerries,  near 
Holyhead,  and  from  thence  attacked  and  despoiled  a  ship 
coming  from  Chester  and  slew  its  crew.  On  the  next  day  we 
find  him  landing  at  Port  Nevin,  in  Lleyn,  where  he  was  welcomed 
by  the  men  of  lyleyn,  Eifyonydd,  Ardudwy,  Arvon,  Rhos,  and 
Dyffryn  Clwyd. 

These  were  the  men  who  would  have  felt  most  directly  the 
Norman  advances,  and  who  would  have  suffered  most  from 
the  new  lords  of  the  castles  at  Rhuddlan,  Deganwy,  and 
elsewhere.  We  find  Gruffydd  now  setting  out  on  a  campaign 
of  castle  destruction.  The  Brut  under  date  1092  (corrected 
date  1094)  tells  us  that  in  that  year  the  Britons  demolished 
the  Norman  castles  in  Gwynedd.  The  biographer  of  Gruffydd 
tells  us  that  about  this  time  (the  dates  are  a  difficulty  if 
Gruffydd  was  a  prisoner  for  twelve  years)  "  he  delivered 
Gwynedd  from  castles."  The  two  references  are  probably 
concerned  with  the  same  campaign. 

The  first  attack  was  directed  against  the  new  castle  at 
252 


GRUFFYDD    AP    CYNAN 

Aberlleiniog.  After  a  lengthy  resistance  it  was  eventually 
destroyed  and  its  steward  and  many  knights  killed.  This 
battle  is  also  noteworthy  for  that  Gellan,  or  Crellan,  "chief 
harpist  and  musician  of  Gruff ydd's  fleet,"  was  then  slain. 
This  Crellan  is  referred  to  in  the  Triads  as  one  of  the  three 
chief  performers  on  the  harp.  It  may  be  that  he  was  the 
inspirer  of  Gruflydd's  love  of  music  which  caused  him  to  effect 
improvements  in  the  laws  relating  to  that  art  and  to  attempt 
to  introduce  the  Irish  pipe  to  his  countrymen — an  attempt 
which  was  not,  however,  very  successful. 

The  rising  tide  of  revolt  passed  on.  Castle  after  castle  was 
destroyed  in  Gwynedd.  In  Powys  similar  deeds  were  being 
done.  Castles  at  Shrewsbury  and  Montgomery  were  burned. 
The  men  of  South  Wales  swept  away  well-nigh  every  castle, 
save  those  at  Pembroke  and  Rhyd  y  Gors.  The  whole  revolt 
was  probably  not  unconnected  with  the  absence  of  William  II 
in  Normandy,  where  he  had  gone  in  the  spring  of  1094,  and 
the  rebellion  against  Rufus  in  1095  headed  by  Robert  of 
Northumberland.  Roger  de  Lacy  was  concerned  in  this 
rebellion,  and  on  its  suppression  was  disinherited  and  exiled. 

WILLIAM  RUFUS  INVADES  NORTH  WALES 

As  soon  as  Rufus  had  re-established  his  position  he  deter- 
mined to  aid  the  marcher  lords  of  Wales  to  recover  their 
supremacy.  We  therefore  find  him  assembling  a  considerable 
army.  He  pushed  on  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  (a  fatal 
mistake,  as  Henry  II  was  to  discover  at  a  later  time) ,  and  by 
November  had  reached  Mur  y  Castell,  in  northern  Ardudwy. 
According  to  Gruffydd's  biographer,  William's  intention  was 
to  subdue  the  Welsh  completely,  or,  as  he  puts  it,  "  destroy 
utterly  all  of  the  people  until  there  should  be  alive  not  so 
much  as  a  dog."  If  this  were  indeed  his  intention  he  was 
singularly  unsuccessful  in  realizing  it.  Gruffydd,  adopting  a 
plan  of  campaign  which  he  and  his  sons  often  repeated  in 
future  years  with  similar  success,  collected  his  forces,  placed 
ambushes  and  obstacles  in  the  defiles  and  other  places  where 
they  could  be  used  most  advantageously,  and  generally 

253 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

harassed  the  advancing  army,  at  the  same  time  withdrawing 
all  the  people  inhabiting  the  line  of  march,  with  their  property 
and  food-stuffs,  so  that  Rufus  cannot  but  have  found  it  almost 
impossible  to  feed  his  army,  now  some  considerable  distance 
from  its  base. 

The  result  was  that  Rufus,  realizing  that  the  winter  coming 
on  would  prove  fatal  to  his  expedition,  determined  to  retire 
to  Chester.  The  campaign  was  a  hopeless  failure,  and,  as  the 
biographer  says,  "  he  did  not  take  with  him  any  kind  of 
profit  or  gain  except  one  cow." 

CONFLICT  WITH  THE  MARCHER  LORDS 

The  Welsh,  elated  at  the  failure  of  the  king's  attempt  at 
conquest,  continued  their  general  campaign  of  castle-razing. 
In  the  south  they  were  successful:  Rhyd  y  Gors  fell  and 
Pembroke  was  closely  beset.  In  the  north,  however,  Earl 
Hugh  of  Chester  joined  with  Hugh  of  Shrewsbury  and  made  a 
determined  attempt  to  break  the  power  of  Gruffydd.  Gruffydd 
called  in  the  aid  of  Cadwgan  and  Maredudd  of  Powys,  and 
these  leaders  adopted  the  policy  of  withdrawing  the  people  of 
Gwynedd  to  Anglesey,  where  they  defended  themselves  "  as 
in  a  stronghold  surrounded  by  the  ocean."  They  also  called 
to  their  aid  Irish  and  Danish  mercenaries,  who  came  in  sixteen 
long-keeled  ships  to  the  aid  of  Gruffydd. 

The  two  earls  soon  made  their  appearance  near  Anglesey. 
We  pause  to  observe  the  ease  with  which  the  marcher  lords 
could  strike  across  Wales  compared  with  the  difficulty  which 
Norman  kings  found  in  doing  the  same  thing.  Whatever  may 
be  the  reason  for  the  earls'  easy  and  unopposed  march  (the  fact 
that  Gruffydd  had  retired  with  his  men  does  not  remove  our 
difficulty,  for  we  ask,  Why  did  he  find  it  necessary  to  retire 
when  he  had  resisted  so  successfully  King  William,  as  in  later 
times  his  son  resisted  King  Henry  II  ?),  they  were  shortly  in  a 
position  to  attack  Anglesey.  They  seem  to  have  feared  the 
Irish  mercenaries,  so  that  we  find  them  offering  the  Irish 
the  tempting  bait  of  unlimited  plunder  if  they  would  fail 
Gruffydd  at  the  critical  moment.  The  Irish  agreed.  The 
254  " 


GRUFFYDD    AP    CYNAN 

earls  attacked,  and  Gruffydd  and  Cadwgan,  deceived  and 
betrayed  by  their  mercenaries,  abandoned  the  struggle  and 
fled  to  Ireland. 

The  battle  seems  to  have  continued  despite  their  absence. 
Suddenly  there  appeared  sailing  over  the  sea  a  royal  fleet. 
King  Magnus  the  Barefoot,  one  of  Norway's  boldest  plunderers, 
swept  down  on  the  island.  Hearing  how  the  islanders  had 
been  betrayed  and  deserted,  he  determined  to  aid  them,  and 
forthwith  attacked  the  Normans.  A  Halogalander  shot  an 
arrow  at  Earl  Hugh  of  Shrewsbury  which  bent  the  nose-screen 
of  the  earl's  helmet ;  Magnus  himself  at  the  same  moment 
sped  an  arrow  straight  and  true  which,  finding  a  way  through 
the  damaged  helmet,  entered  Hugh's  eye  and  stretched  him 
dead  upon  the  sea-lapped  sands. 

Magnus  and  his  followers  then  attacked  and  killed  many  of 
the  Normans,  so  that  "  they  fell  from  their  horses  like  fruit 
from  its  branches."  The  Norwegian  now  appears  to  have 
thought  that  honour  was  satisfied,  and,  weighing  anchor,  he 
and  his  knights  melted  away  into  the  distance  like  a  dream,  as 
it  might  have  seemed,  had  it  not  been  that  stark  witnesses  of 
his  presence  gazed  sightless  up  into  the  heavens.  Earl  Hugh 
lay  slain  and  many  of  his  followers. 

The  Normans  were  now,  however,  in  undisputed  possession 
of  Mon.  They  mercilessly  ravaged  the  island,  and  many 
captives  were  taken.  As  we  have  said,  the  Normans  had 
promised  the  Irish  much  plunder  and  many  slaves,  men, 
women,  youths,  and  maidens.  We  are  told  in  a  quaint  passage 
how  the  Normans  redeemed  their  promise.  Hugh  of  Chester 
acted  toward  the  Irish  "  like  a  faithful  man  to  unfaithful,  for 
he  succeeded  in  collecting  all  the  toothless,  deformed,  lame, 
one-eyed,  troublesome,  feeble  hags  and  offered  them  to  them 
in  return  for  their  treachery."  The  scribe  naively  adds ; 
"  When  they  saw  this,  they  loosened  their  fleet  and  made  for 
the  deep  toward  Ireland." 

Gruffydd  returned  in  the  year  following  from  Ireland  to 
find  Anglesey  deserted.  He  made  peace  with  Earl  Hugh  and 
received  a  small  allotment  of  land.  But  the  succeeding  years 

255 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

were  bitter  ones  for  him.  His  pride  was  broken,  and,  in  the 
words  of  his  biographer,  "  he  spent  his  life  for  some  years  in 
poverty  and  misery,  hoping  for  the  future  providence  of  God." 

GRUFFYDD'S  RISE  TO  POWER 

This  was  in  1099.  We  believe  that  the  change  did  not 
come  in  Gruffydd's  life  and  in  the  affairs  of  Gwynedd  until 
the  death  of  Earl  Hugh  in  1101.  Even  then  it  is  probable 
that  his  return  to  the  old  position  of  lord  of  Gwynedd  was  a 
slow  and  painful  one.  His  biographer  slurs  over  these  years, 
so  that  we  may  be  sure  his  hero  was  not  accomplishing  great 
things.  That  Gruffydd  was  slowly  extending  his  power,  how- 
ever, appears  from  the  fact  that  Henry  I  is  found  leading  an 
expedition  against  him  and  the  princes  of  Powys.  The  bio- 
grapher also  tells  us  that  after  a  visit  to  Henry's  court  he 
was  granted  the  cantrefs  of  I/ley n,  Eifyonydd,  Ardudwyv  and 
Aillechwdd,  and  that  thereafter  "  everything  prospered  before 
Gruffydd,  and  on  all  sides  he  freed  everything  before  Gwynedd, 
and  daily  there  slipped  to  him  others  from  Rhos,  and  their 
possessions  with  them."  Unfortunately  neither  the  Brut  nor 
Florence  of  Worcester  confirms  this  account,  but  both  state 
that  Gruffydd's  first  visit  to  Henry's  court  took  place  in 
1116 — that  is  to  say,  after  Henry's  invasion. 

However  this  may  be,  in  1114  Henry  raised  a  considerable 
force  for  the  Welsh  wars.  The  army  of  invasion  came  from 
south,  centre,  and  north.  Alexander  of  Scotland  and  the 
young  Earl  Richard  of  Chester  led  the  northern  contingent, 
which  took  the  north  coast  road.  Henry  led  the  centre,  which 
was  joined  at  Mur  y  Castell  by  the  southern  contingent,  and 
the  combined  force  pushed  on  along  the  Roman  road  crossing 
the  Berwyn  range.  Maredudd  of  Powys,  fearing  the  strength 
arrayed  against  him,  made  peace  with  Henry,  but  Owain 
ap  Cadwgan,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  the  man  to  fear 
to  take  risks,  retired  with  his  people  and  possessions  to  Eryri. 
As  for  Gruffydd,  we  are  told  that,  "  according  to  his  experience 
in  warfare,  [he]  took  up  a  position  in  the  arms  of  snowclad 
Snowdon." 
256 


w    § 

PH      « 

S 

.    O 


GRUFFYDD    AP    CYNAN 

We  are  in  doubt  as  to  what  engagements  took  place,  if  any. 
The  Welsh  princes  seem  to  have  offered  peace  on  terms.  The 
English  king  on  his  part  doubtless  had  little  relish  for  guerrilla 
warfare  among  the  forests  and  glens  of  Snowdonia.  Peace 
was  made.  Gruff ydd  lost  no  territory,  but  recognized  Henry 
as  overlord ;  made  homage  ;  swore  fealty  and  paid  a  heavy 
fine.  Henceonward  Gruffydd  seems  to  have  realized  that 
Henry  was  too  strong  to  be  opposed,  and,  like  a  wise  man, 
realizing  the  strength  of  the  other  side,  he  determined  to 
court  the  favour  of  his  powerful  overlord. 

We  believe  that  this  is  the  explanation  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  succeeding  years  in  Gwynedd.  Gruffydd  continuously 
pursued  the  policy  of  friendship  with  the  English  court.  In 
the  year  following  he  surrendered  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  who  had 
fled  to  him  for  safety,  to  the  English.  In  1116  he  visited  the 
English  court,  where  we  are  told  Henry  entertained  him 
"  splendidly."  In  1121,  although  the  biographer  makes 
Gruffydd  a  party  to  the  opposition  to  Henry's  second  invasion, 
it  is  probable  that  the  Annales  and  the  Brut  are  right  in  saying 
that  Gruffydd  took  no  part  in  it,  and,  in  fact,  threatened  active 
hostility  against  any  Powysians  who  sought  safety  within  his 
dominions.  He  seems  to  have  pursued  the  same  policy  of 
peaceful  friendship  with  the  king  of  Ireland,  so  that  his  realm 
was  freed  from  the  evils  resulting  from  frequent  piratical  raids. 
At  the  same  time  he  stationed  his  sons  (who  included  Owain 
Gwynedd,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Princes  of  Gwynedd  in 
after-years)  on  the  border,  so  that  attacks  from  rival  princes 
could  be  checked  before  his  people  were  plundered  or  his 
country  devastated. 

The  result  of  these  wise  measures  was  a  period  of  great 
prosperity  for  Gwynedd.  As  his  biographer  says,  "  He 
increased  all  manner  of  good  in  Gwynedd,  and  the  inhabitants 
began  to  build  churches  in  every  direction  therein,  and  to 
plant  the  old  woods  and  to  make  orchards  and  gardens  and 
surround  them  with  walls  and  ditches,  and  to  construct  walled 
buildings,  and  to  support  themselves  from  the  fruit  of  the 
earth  after  the  manner  of  the  Romans.  Gruffydd  on  his  part 

R  257 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

made  great  churches  for  himself  in  his  chief  places,  and 
constructed  courts  and  [gave]  banquets  constantly  and 
honourably.  Wherefore,  he  also  made  Gwynedd  glitter  then 
with  limewashed  churches  like  the  firmament  with  stars.  He 
ruled  his  people  with  a  rod  of  iron." 

Gruffydd  was  now  growing  old.  In  his  later  years  he  lost 
his  sight,  and  we  find,  as  we  should  expect,  the  direction  of  all 
military  affairs  falling  to  his  sons  Cadwallon,  Owain,  and 
Cadwalader,  who,  as  we  shall  see,  greatly  strengthened  the 
position  of  Gwynedd,  though,  indeed,  Cadwalader  was  to  prove 
far  less  worthy  than  his  elder  brothers.  As  time  went  on 
Gruffydd  devoted  his  energies  to  works  of  mercy.  He  became 
a  munificent  benefactor  of  churches  and  religious  foundations, 
and  when  at  last  he  died,  in  1137,  at  the  very  advanced  age 
(for  that  time)  of  eighty-two,  he  left  many  bequests  to  reli- 
gious houses,  including  twenty  shillings  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  Dublin,  where  he  was  born.1 

1  It  was  in  the  time  of  Gruffydd  that  the  Flemings  came  to  Dyfed.  The  Brut 
has  the  following  account  of  the  settlement  under  date  1 105  (the  better  date  ia 
1108) :  "  A  certain  nation,  not  recognized  in  respect  of  origin  and  manners, 
and  unknown  as  to  where  it  had  been  concealed  in  the  island  for  a  number  of 
years,  was  sent  by  King  Henry  into  the  country  of  Dyfed.  And  that  nation 
seized  the  whole  cantred  of  Rhos,  near  the  efflux  of  the  river  called  Cleddy  v, 
having  driven  off  the  people  completely.  That  nation,  as  it  is  said,  was 
derived  from  Flanders.  .  .  .  This  was  on  account  of  the  encroachment  of 
the  sea  on  their  country,  the  whole  region  having  been  reduced  to  disorder 
and  bearing  no  produce,  owing  to  the  sand  cast  into  the  land  by  the  tide  of 
the  sea.  At  last,  when  they  could  get  no  space  to  inhabit,  as  the  sea  had 
passed  over  the  maritime  land,  and  the  mountains  were  full  of  people,  so 
that  all  could  not  dwell  there  on  account  of  the  multitude  of  men,  and  the 
scantiness  of  the  land,  that  nation  craved  of  King  Henry  and  besought  him 
to  assign  a  place  where  they  might  dwell.  And  then  they  were  sent  into 
Rhos,  expelling  from  thence  the  proprietary  inhabitants,  who  thus  lost  their 
own  country  and  place  from  that  time  until  the  present  day." 


258 


CHAPTER  XV 

OWAIN  GWYNEDD 

1137-1170 

THE  years  1135-37  saw  the  deaths  of  Henry  I  of 
England  and  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  and  Gruffydd  ap 
Rhys  of  Wales.  The  death  of  the  powerful  Henry  was 
instantly  taken  advantage  of  by  the  Welsh,  who  appear  to 
have  decided  to  make  one  great  effort  to  rid  themselves  of 
their  Norman  conquerors.  The  uprising  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  entirely  unexpected  by  the  strangers  resident  in 
Wales,  for  according  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis  many  of  the 
Flemings  of  Dyf  ed,  anticipating  that  the  storm  which  threatened 
must  shortly  break  and  destroy  them,  had  sold  their  possessions 
and  abandoned  their  country  of  adoption  for  ever. 

Their  foresight  was  soon  shown.  Almost  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Henry  we  find  Howel  ap  Maredudd  attacking  the 
Norman  and  English  colonists  in  Gower.  A  battle  was  fought 
somewhere  near  Swansea  in  1136,  in  which  the  Welsh  were 
victorious  and  inflicted  a  very  heavy  loss  (for  those  days)  upon 
their  opponents.  The  news  of  the  victory  seems  to  have 
travelled  with  the  rapidity  of  a  forest  fire.  For  the  colonists 
it  was  hardly  less  terrible  in  its  results.  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys, 
who  had  struggled  so  long  to  rid  Deheubarth  of  the  Normans, 
now  decided  to  adventure  one  more  blow  in  the  cause  of 
freedom.  To  make  more  sure  of  success  he  appealed  for  help 
to  Gwynedd,  now,  as  we  have  seen,  a  flourishing  and  happy 
state  under  the  peaceful  rule  of  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan.  Gruffydd 
of  Gwynedd  seems  also  to  have  realized  that,  the  lion  of 
England  being  dead,  the  time  had  come  to  rise  up  against  the 
Normans.  It  was  perhaps  hardly  Gruffydd  who  had  the 

259 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

deciding  of  the  matter.  Old  and  blind  as  he  was,  he  had 
ceased  to  take  any  active  part  in  the  government  of  his  country. 
The  mantle  of  power  had  descended,  however,  on  to  shoulders 
quite  as  strong  as  his  had  been.  Owain  Gwynedd,  so  called 
to  distinguish  him  from  his  contemporary  Owain  Cyfeiliog, 
was,  as  we  shall  see,  a  brave  fighter,  a  valiant  leader,  a  clear 
thinker,  and  a  strong  ruler.  These  qualities,  only  too  rare  in 
the  princes  of  Wales,  enabled  him,  in  later  years,  to  do  great 
things  for  his  country. 

The  journey  of  Gruff ydd  ap  Rhys  to  Gwynedd  was  not 
fruitless.  The  sons  of  Gruff  ydd  ap  Cynan  agreed  to  join  him, 
and  together  the  allies  arranged  to  descend  upon  the  Normans 
of  the  south.  During  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys'  absence  a  misfortune 
had,  however,  befallen  the  Welsh  arms.  Gruffydd's  lady, 
Gwenllian,  spurred  on  by  a  patriot's  zeal,  had  led  a  Welsh 
army  against  the  castle  of  Cydweli  (Kidwelly).  The  attempt 
was  doomed  to  utter  failure.  Her  army  was  attacked  by 
Maurice,  the  Norman  leader,  and  routed.  The  brave  Amazon 
was  herself  slain,  together  with  her  young  son  Morgan,  while 
another  son  was  captured. 

ATTACKS  UPON  THE  SOUTH  WALES  MARCHERS 

Retribution  quickly  followed.  The  Norman  leader  in 
Ceredigion,  Richard  de  Clare,1  who  had  paid  an  unsuccessful 
visit  to  Stephen's  court  to  request  aid  in  defending  the  Norman 
possessions  in  South  Wales,  was  returning  to  his  lordship. 
Used  to  the  peaceful  times  of  Henry  I,  he  seems  to  have 
ignored  the  warnings  of  Brian  de  Wallingford,2  who  had  told 
him  of  the  dangerous  condition  of  affairs  and  had  urged  him 
to  accept  an  armed  escort.  Richard  de  Clare,  ignoring  the 
warnings,  plunged  on  into  the  woods,  preceded  by  a  minstrel 
and  a  singer,  the  former  accompanying  the  latter  on  the 
fiddle,  and  protected  only  by  a  few  followers.  Murder  over- 
took him  in  the  thick  woods  of  the  vale  of  the  Gronwy 
at  Coed  Grono,  or  Grwyne.  One  of  the  Welsh  chronicles 
assigns  the  deed  to  Morgan  ap  Owain,  a  man  of  good 

1  Richard  fitz  Gilbert.  a  Brian  fitz  Count. 

200 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

family  and  position,  who  had  been  wronged  by  Richard  de 
Clare. 

The  Welsh  now  finally  decided  to  combine  and  drive  the 
Norman  from  Ceredigion.  Owain  and  Cadwalader,  sons  of 
Gruff ydd  ap  Cynan,  and  Howel  ap  Maredudd  and  Madog  ap 
Idnerth  seem  to  have  allied  themselves  for  the  campaign, 
which  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  1136.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  year  they  were  joined  by  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys. 

The  monk  who  wrote  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  gets  quite 
hysterical  with  joy  when  describing  the  advance  of  the  men 
of  Gwynedd.  Owain  and  Cadwalader  are  proclaimed  to  be 
"  the  ornament  of  all  the  Britons,  their  safety,  their  liberty, 
and  their  strength  ;  the  men  who  were  two  noble  and  two 
generous  kings  ;  two  dauntless  ones  ;  two  brave  lions  ;  two 
blessed  ones  ;  two  eloquent  ones  ;  two  wise  ones  ;  protectors 
of  the  churches  and  their  champions  ;  the  defenders  of  the 
poor  ;  the  slayers  of  the  foes  .  .  .  the  safest  refuge  to  all  who 
should  flee  to  them  ;  the  men  who  were  pre-eminent  in  energies 
of  souls  and  bodies  ;  and  jointly  upholding  in  unity  the  whole 
kingdom  of  the  Britons."  Writing  at  Llanbadarn,  he  was  near 
the  scene  of  the  exploits  of  his  heroes,  and  seems  to  have 
viewed  with  unalloyed  delight  the  ridding  of  the  land  of  the 
Normans. 

The  first  success  gained  was  the  burning  of  the  castle  of 
Walter  de  Bee  at  I/lanfihangel.  Thence  the  Gwyneddians 
marched  to  Aberystwyth,  where  they  attacked  and  destroyed 
the  castle  of  the  Clares.  It  was  now  that  the  men  of  Gwynedd 
were  joined  by  Howel  and  Madog.  The  castles  of  Richard  de 
la  Mere,  of  Dineirth,  and  of  Caerwedros  at  I^lwyn  Dafydd  were 
swept  away. 

DESTRUCTION  OF  CARDIGAN  TOWN 

For  the  moment  there  was  a  breathing-space.  The  Welsh 
returned  to  their  homes  laden  with  booty.  But  the  respite 
was  a  short  one.  Toward  the  close  of  the  year  the  allies, 
whose  forces,  as  we  have  seen,  were  now  augmented  by  those 
of  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  prepared  to  complete  the  work  so  well 

261 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

begun.  They  now  had  at  their  disposal  an  army  which, 
according  to  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion,  was  composed  of  6000 
fine  infantry  and  2100  cavalry  fully  armed.  The  allies  seem 
to  have  decided  to  strike  at  the  Normans  of  South  Wales  in 
the  stronghold  of  their  power — Cardigan.  We  find  the  two 
armies  meeting  at  Crug  Mawr,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Teifi. 
The  Normans,  led  by  Stephen,  constable  of  the  castle,  were 
supported  by  Robert  fitz  Martin,  lord  of  Cemais,  the  sons  of 
Gerald  the  Steward,  William  fitz  Ore,  and  the  Flemings  and 
marcher  settlers  and  the  French  from  Aber  Nedd  to  Aberteifi. 

The  battle  which  followed  resulted  in  a  glorious  victory  for 
the  Welsh.  The  Normans  broke  and  fled.  Many  were  killed 
in  the  panic  which  followed,  others  were  taken  captive,  and 
more  than  a  thousand  were  drowned  in  the  river  Teifi  owing 
to  a  bridge  breaking  as  they  were  attempting  to  cross.  The 
town  of  Cardigan  was  fired,  and  many  a  refugee  who  had  fled 
from  the  battle  was  burnt  in  the  town  in  which  he  had  sought 
refuge.  The  castle,  however,  still  stood.  The  Welsh  contented 
themselves  for  the  present  with  carrying  away  the  costly  spoil 
which  was  theirs  as  the  fruit  of  their  victory. 

The  unhappy  refugees  in  Cardigan  Castle  were  now  in  a 
parlous  state.  Stephen,  unlike  Henry  I,  was  not  the  man  to 
bring  the  Welsh  to  their  knees.  Yet  something  had  to  be 
done,  and  so  we  find  him  persuading  Miles  of  Gloucester  to 
undertake  the  relief  of  Cardigan  Castle.  Miles  was  successful 
in  rescuing  the  widow  of  Richard  fitz  Gilbert  and  her  people, 
but  little  else  was  done  to  avenge  the  destruction  of  the  town 
of  Cardigan.  A  punitive  expedition  was,  it  is  true,  fitted  out 
shortly  afterward,  but  it  came  to  nothing. 

RENEWED  WELSH  ATTACK  SUCCESSFUL 

In  the  following  year  (1137)  the  Welsh  attack  was  renewed. 
Gruffydd  ap  Rhys  raided  the  Flemish  settlement  in  Dyfed 
and  Rhos.  The  further  progress  of  Gruffydd  was  stopped  by 
his  untimely  death.  How  he  died  we  do  not  know.  At  about 
the  same  time  his  namesake  in  the  north  also  departed  to  the 
shades.  He,  however,  had  long  been  in  retirement,  and  his 
262 


PI.ATE  XL,.     BASING WERK  ABBEY 
Photo  Lettsome  &•  Sons,  Llangollen 


262 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

death  did  not  stay  for  a  moment  the  operations  of  Owain  and 
his  brothers. 

These  energetic  leaders  of  the  men  of  Gwynedd  again  made 
Ceredigion  the  scene  of  their  operations.  Castles  were  burned 
at  Ystrad  Meurig  and  I^lanstephen,  Castle  Humphry  was 
also  destroyed  and  Caermarthen  was  captured.  The  capture 
of  this  last  fortress  was,  of  course,  an  immense  gain.  A  royal 
stronghold,  its  fall  placed  the  whole  of  south-western  Wales 
in  the  power  of  the  captors  and  prevented  the  sending  of  any 
help  to  the  recaptured  provinces  from  England.  Though  it 
was  invested  in  1137,  and  although  attacks  were  made  on  it 
by  sea  as  well  as  by  land,  it  did  not  fall  for  several  years,  but 
in  the  meantime  Ceredigion  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  attackers, 
who  parcelled  it  out  among  the  princes  of  Gwynedd  or  their 
natural  children. 

The  Welsh  now  seem  to  have  rested  on  their  laurels.  The 
Norman  having  been  overcome,  the  Welsh  princes  are  soon 
found  fighting  among  themselves.  We  read  that  Cynvrig, 
son  of  Owain,  was  killed  by  the  family  of  Madog  ap  Maredudd. 
Maredudd  ap  Howel  was  slain  by  the  sons  of  Bleddyn  in  the 
year  following.  The  two  succeeding  years  saw  the  death  of 
several  more  Welsh  princes,  and  finally,  in  1143,  Anarawd, 
Gruff ydd  ap  Rhys'  eldest  son,  a  youth  of  bright  promise, 
"  the  hope  and  strength  and  glory  of  the  men  of  South  Wales," 
was  killed  by  Cadwalader  or  his  family. 

This  most  impolitic  act  of  folly  brought  down  upon 
Cadwalader  his  brother  Owain's  anger.  We  can  well  under- 
stand Owain's  distress.  The  house  of  Deheubarth  had  been 
his  allies  in  the  patriotic  revolt  of  the  preceding  years. 
Anarawd  was  about  to  marry  Owain's  daughter.  The  whole 
success  of  the  Welsh  movement  of  independence  depended 
upon  the  united  action  of  the  leaders  of  the  Welsh  royal 
houses.  Owain  seems  to  have  taken  the  strongest  view  of 
Cadwalader's  folly.  The  younger  brother  was,  in  fact,  driven 
out  of  Ceredigion  and  had  his  castle  at  Aberystwyth  burnt. 
Owain's  anger  even  went  further,  and  Cadwalader  had  to  fly 
to  Ireland  to  obtain  the  aid  of  mercenaries  in  order  to  prevent 

263 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

himself  being  driven  into  permanent  exile.  Owain  now  seems 
to  have  felt  that  enough  had  been  done  to  avenge  the  death 
of  Anarawd,  and  a  reconciliation  was  effected  with  his  brother. 

POSITION  IN  NORTH  WALES  AND  POWYSLAND 

What  exactly  had  been  happening  in  parts  of  Wales  other 
than  those  we  have  been  considering  we  do  not  know.  England 
was,  of  course,  by  now  in  the  throes  of  the  conflict  which 
raged  between  Matilda  and  Stephen  ;  a  conflict  in  which  the 
marcher  lords  were  mainly  on  the  side  of  Matilda  (in  this 
connexion  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Welsh  chronicler 
refers  to  Stephen  in  complimentary  terms ;  he  evidently  hated 
the  marchers  more  than  the  king).  The  result  can  but  have 
been  a  weakening  of  the  marcher  grip  on  North  and  Central 
as  well  as  Southern  Wales.  Again,  Owain  was  certainly  not  a 
prince  to  let  such  a  chance  slip  by.  As  to  any  actual  victories 
or  gains,  we  must,  however,  admit  that  the  sources  are  almost 
silent  on  the  point.1 

The  years  1143  and  1144  saw  the  Welsh  forward  movement 
checked  in  some  measure.  In  1144,  the  year  which  saw  the 
drowning  of  some  Welsh  Crusaders  in  "the  sea  of  Greece,"  the 
Normans  gained  a  little  of  the  ground  which  they  had  lost 
in  the  years  immediately  preceding.  Thus  Hugh  fitz  Raulf 
(Ranulf  of  Chester)  repaired  the  castles  of  Gcmacon  and 
Colwyn,  and  reconquered  Maelienydd  and  Elvael.  In  the 
year  following  Hugh  Mortimer  of  Wigmore  imprisoned  Rhys 
ap  Howel,  one  of  the  Welsh  leaders,  and  captured  many  of 
his  followers. 

In  the  south,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Welsh,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Owain's  sons,  were  still  pursuing  their  victorious  way. 
Aberteifi  was  ravaged  and  much  booty  taken.  A  pitched 
battle  seems  to  have  been  fought  and  won.  A  severe  check 
to  the  Welsh  successes  was  given,  however,  by  Gilbert  fitz 
Gilbert,  who  appears  in  1145  to  have  reconquered  Dyfed  and 
to  have  rebuilt  the  castle  of  Caermarthen  and  another  castle 

1  For  some  notes  on  minor  engagements,  such  as  the  capture  of  Bromfield 
Castle,  near  Wrexham,  see  Lloyd,  History  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  477. 
264 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

which  is  described  in  the  Brut  as  belonging  to  the  son  of 
Uchtryd. 

Meanwhile  the  men  of  Gwynedd  had  been  pressing  forward 
in  the  north.  In  1146  Ranulf,  now  Earl  of  Chester,  is  found 
appealing  to  his  king  for  support.  The  royal  advisers  appear 
to  have  regarded  this  very  reasonable  request  as  a  traitorous 
trap  laid  by  Ranulf  against  the  safety  of  Stephen,  and  as  a 
consequence  the  earl  was  seized  and  cast  into  prison.  The 
result  was  that  the  Welsh  were  enabled  to  capture  yet  another 
Norman  stronghold.  At  the  close  of  the  year  Mold  fell  into 
their  hands.  This  success  (the  chroniclers  tell  us  that  it 
had  been  frequently  attacked  without  success)  brought  Owain 
out  of  the  fit  of  deep  melancholy  into  which  he  had  been  cast 
by  the  death  of  his  son  Rhun,  who  is  described  in  the  Brut  as 
"  the  most  praiseworthy  young  man  of  the  British  nation  .  .  . 
fair  of  form  and  aspect,  kind  in  conversation  and  affable  to 
all,  fair  of  complexion,  with  curly  yellow  hair,  eyes  somewhat 
blue,  full  and  playful."  It  also  made  up  for  the  defeat  which 
the  men  of  Gwynedd  had  sustained  earlier  in  the  year  at  the 
hands  of  Robert  of  Mold  at  Wich. 

Some  time  before  the  Welsh  had  gained  further  successes 
in  the  south  Cadell  ap  Gruffydd  had  reduced  the  castle  of 
Dinweileir,  and  later  in  the  same  year  (1146)  he  and  Howel 
ap  Owain  overcame  the  castle  of  Caermarthen  and  placed 
Maredudd  ap  Gruffydd  in  charge  of  it  as  defender.  He 
appears  to  have  beaten  back  successfully  an  attempt  at  re- 
capture made  by  the  Normans  and  Flemings  under  the 
leadership  of  William  fitz  Aed  and  the  sons  of  Gerald  the 
Steward.  In  the  year  following  (1147)  we  find  Cadell  and 
Howel  again  combining.  This  time  the  reduction  of  Castell 
Gwys  (Wiston)  was  their  objective.  The  attack  was  suc- 
cessful and  Howel  returned  victorious. 

CONFLICTS  BETWEEN  THE  WELSH 

Cadwalader  now  appears  on  the  scene  again.  This  time  he 
was  in  conflict  with  his  nephews,  Howel  and  Conan,  sons  of 
Owain.  He  seems  to  have  regained  some  of  his  lost  power  in 

265 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Meirionydd  and  to  have  built  a  castle  at  Cynf  ael  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  cantref  during  the  years  of  peace  which  had  elapsed 
since  his  quarrel  with  Owain.  What  the  cause  of  the  dispute 
was  between  himself  and  his  nephews  we  do  not  know,  but  in 
1147  Howel  and  Conan  advanced  into  Meirionydd,  called  out 
the  men  of  the  district,  and  proceeded  to  attack  Cynf  ael  Castle, 
now  entrusted  by  Cadwalader  to  the  charge  of  Morvan,  abbot 
of  Whitland  (y  ty  gwyn,  which,  however,  Professor  Lloyd  has 
suggested  should  read  y  tywyn  and  refers  to  Towyn).  Howel 
and  Conan,  finding  Morvan  impervious  to  bribes,  had  to  resort 
to  force  in  order  to  obtain  the  castle,  but  at  last  were  successful, 
and  we  read  about  this  time  of  Cadwalader  being  driven  out  of 
Meirionydd. 

Cadwalader  still,  however,  retained  some  power.  In  1149 
he  is  found  building  a  castle  at  Llanrhystud  and  portioning 
out  part  of  Ceredigion  to  his  son  Cadwgan.  The  other  Welsh 
princes  were  also  busy  in  that  year,  consolidating  their  power 
and  building  castles  in  Yale  (lal)  and  at  Oswestry.  In  the 
year  following  Cadell  ap  Gruffydd  repaired  the  castle  of 
Caermarthen  and  ravaged  Cydweli.  The  remainder  of  that 
year  was  devoted  to  disputes  between  the  various  branches 
of  the  house  of  Gwynedd. 

Owain,  meanwhile,  was  strengthening  his  grasp  on  the 
district  around  Mold.  While  the  younger  members  of  his 
family  were  disputing  in  the  south  and  west  he  followed  up 
the  success  gained  by  the  capture  of  Mold  Castle.  A  castle 
was  built  in  the  commote  of  Yale  at  Buddugre.  Feeling  him- 
self secure  in  the  north,  he  seems  to  have  turned  his  attention 
to  Powys,  where  Madog  ap  Maredudd's  castle  of  Oswestry 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  recently  been  rebuilt.  This  prince, 
who  had  been  the  principal  ruler  of  Powys  since  Maredudd's 
death  in  1132,  did  not  hesitate  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the 
Normans  in  his  dispute  with  Owain.  A  battle  was  fought 
at  Consyllt  (Coleshill  ?),  in  which  the  ever-victorious  Owain 
was  again  successful  and  the  auxiliaries  and  troops  of  Madog 
were  put  to  flight.  This  victory  greatly  strengthened 
Owain's  position  in  Yale  and  Tegeingl,  and  his  power  was 
266 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

still  further  increased  by  the  death  of  Earl  Ranulf  (poisoned 
as  some  thought,  by  Peverel  of  the  Peak)  in  the  following  year, 
leaving  as  heir  a  child  of  tender  years  to  guide  the  fortunes  of 
Chester  through  those  troublous  times. 

OWAIN'S  SUCCESSES  AGAINST  STEPHEN 

The  years  which  follow  were  filled  with  unimportant 
squabbles  between  the  various  Welsh  princes.  The  royal 
house  of  Deheubarth  seems,  during  the  years  1151-1153,  to 
have  been  at  feud  with  the  sons  of  Owain  Gwynedd.  In  1151 
they  were  successful  in  driving  Howel  ap  Owain  out  of  most  of 
Ceredigion,  though  he  still  remained  lord  of  a  castle  at  Pen- 
gwern,  in  I4anfihangel.  They  also  captured  the  castle  of 
Uanrhystud,  which  was,  however,  regained  by  Howel  shortly 
afterward.  The  sons  of  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys  then  turned  their 
attention  to  Gower,  burnt  the  castle  of  Aberllychwer,  and 
devastated  the  surrounding  lands. 

In  1153  the  men  of  Deheubarth  gained  further  successes 
against  Howel  ap  Owain.  The  castle  at  Penwedig  (Castle 
Howel  ?)  was  demolished.  Tenby  was  captured  by  a  night 
attack  and  delivered  over  to  the  charge  of  the  Norman  William 
fitz  Gerald ;  the  castle  at  Ystrad  Cyngen  was  laid  waste  and 
the  castle  at  Aberafan  burnt,  its  garrison  slain,  and  valuable 
booty  seized.  An  unhappy  year  ended  with  the  ravaging  of 
Cyfeiliog.  In  1156  Rhys  of  Deheubarth  pushed  on  as  far  as 
Aberdovey,  while  on  the  eastern  border  Madog  of  Powys 
built  the  castle  of  Caereinion. 

We  have  mentioned  these  unimportant  details  in  order  to 
estimate  justly  the  position  of  Owain  Gwynedd  at  the  close  of 
Stephen's  reign.  In  the  south  he  appears  to  have  delegated 
the  command  to  his  sons,  of  whom  Howel  and  Conan  seem  to 
have  been  the  most  energetic.  Their  arms  met  with  alternate 
successes  and  reverses,  so  that  at  the  time  we  have  now  reached 
their  position  was  not  very  different  from  that  which  was 
theirs  at  the  commencement  of  the  struggle.  In  the  north 
Owain  himself  was  in  command.  Here  the  position  was  very 
different.  With  one  or  two  trifling  exceptions  his  progress 

267 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

had  been  uninterrupted,  and  the  exceptions  had  occurred 
during  the  time  when  he  was  prostrated  by  the  death  of  his 
son  Rhun.  Molesdale  and  the  neighbouring  districts  had  been 
brought  under  his  sway ;  his  possessions  had  continually 
increased  toward  the  east,  so  that  by  now  the  ancient  Roman 
town  of  Chester  was  within  sight  of  his  outposts.  Powys  had 
been  humbled  and  Earl  Ranulf's  power  had  been  reduced. 

The  condition  of  affairs  was,  indeed,  becoming  serious  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  English  Government.  Throughout 
the  anarchy  of  Stephen's  reign  Wales  had  been  practically 
abandoned  by  the  English  king  and  the  marcher  lords.  These 
latter  had  been  prominent  participators  in  the  struggle,  and 
had  paid  but  little  attention  to  their  home  affairs,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  marvelled  at  that  the  Welsh  princes  had  taken  full 
advantage  of  the  slackening  of  the  grip  which  had  almost 
strangled  their  national  life  in  the  time  of  Henry  I. 

CONFLICT  WITH  HENRY  II 

No  great  credit  would  be  due  to  Owain  Gwynedd  if  the  list 
of  his  achievements  had  stopped  with  the  death  of  Stephen. 
We  could  but  have  regarded  him  as  an  opportunist  who  had 
taken  advantage  of  the  temporary  weakness  of  the  English 
monarchy  to  snatch  a  temporary  gain.  It  is  for  his  leadership 
and  prudence  in  the  struggle  with  Henry,  a  man  of  very 
different  mould  from  Stephen  and  one  of  the  most  powerful 
kings  of  his  day,  that  we  must  award  to  Owain  the  eminent 
position  which  is  admittedly  his  in  the  history  of  his 
country. 

The  death  of  Stephen  in  1154  did  not  see  immediately  any 
attempt  at  the  reconquest  of  Wales.  England  herself  was  in 
a  state  of  complete  disorder.  Henry's  title,  based  as  it  was 
largely  on  treaty  rights,  had  to  be  established  fully.  His  wide 
French  possessions  required  his  attention.  It  was  necessary 
for  him  to  bring  into  subjection  many  of  the  unruly  barons 
whose  adulterine  castles  and  lawless  behaviour  had  rendered 
the  lives  of  the  commoners  of  England  well-nigh  unbearable 
for  years.  Two  of  these  barons,  the  marcher  lords  Roger  Earl 
268 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

of  Hereford  and  Hugh  Mortimer  of  Wigmore,  had,  in  the  first 
year  of  Henry's  reign,  broken  out  into  rebellion,  but  seem  to 
have  recognized  that  Henry  was  no  Stephen,  and  early  made 
their  peace  with  the  king,  though  Hugh  did  not  surrender 
until  the  capture  of  his  castle  at  Bridgnorth.  It  was  not 
until  1157  that,  the  preliminary  work  having  been  done, 
Henry  was  free  at  last  to  turn  his  attention  to  Wales. 

Henry  seems  to  have  decided  to  leave  nothing  undone 
which  would  aid  him  in  the  complete  conquest  of  the  Cymry. 
A  special  levy  was  raised,  and,  arrangements  having  been 
made  whereby  a  long  term  of  service  was  assured,  a  fleet  was 
collected  in  order  to  enable  a  joint  attack  to  be  launched 
against  Wales  by  land  and  sea.  An  alliance  was  contracted 
with  Cadwalader  of  Gwynedd,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
constantly  at  war  with  his  brother  Owain,  and  had  been 
driven  out  of  Anglesey  and  the  mainland  of  Wales  in  1153. 
Cadwalader  had  other  reasons  for  being  partial  to  the  English 
side.  He  had  married  into  the  famous  Norman  house  of  Clare, 
and  he  had  been  maintained  by  Henry  since  his  banishment. 
Though  from  a  patriot's  point  of  view  his  conduct  was,  and 
always  had  been,  atrocious,  it  was  not  simply  perverse  and 
foolish.  Finally  Henry  strengthened  his  already  considerable 
force  with  archers  from  Shropshire,  who  might  be  expected  to 
understand  the  mode  of  fighting  which  would  have  to  be 
adopted  in  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  Wales. 

It  seems  to  us  to  be  evident,  from  a  consideration  of  the 
campaign  which  followed,  that  Owain  expected  defeat  and 
was  only  too  ready  to  purchase  peace  with  the  sacrifices 
demanded  of  him,  sacrifices  which,  though  not  great,  were,  we 
believe,  greater  than  Henry's  campaign  warranted. 

The  English  king,  though  prepared  for  a  lengthy  struggle, 
seems  to  have  determined,  with  the  boldness  of  youth,  to 
attempt  a  coup  de  main  which  would  bring  Owain  at  once  to 
his  knees.  Sending  his  main  army  along  the  northern  coast 
road  from  Chester  and  directing  the  fleet  to  make  for  Rhuddlan, 
the  king  himself  plunged  into  the  forest  of  Cennadlog,1 

1  Colcshill,  according  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis. 

269 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

accompanied  only  by  a  few  lightly  armed  troops.  The  plan 
was  a  bold,  even  a  reckless,  one,  and  was  like  to  have  cost  the 
king  his  life. 

Owain,  who,  following  his  father's  tactics,  had  collected  the 
whole  of  his  available  resources  and  had  encamped  at  Basing- 
werk,  fortified  his  camp  with  earthworks  and  prepared  for  a 
pitched  battle.  It  was  against  this  encampment  of  Owain's 
that  the  northern  army  had  been  sent,  Henry  at  the  same 
time  attempting  to  reach  the  same  place  by  taking  the  shorter 
route  through  the  forests.  Henry  undoubtedly  expected  that 
this  bold  move  would  take  Owain  completely  by  surprise.  It 
did  not.  On  the  other  hand,  Henry  was  caught  unawares  by 
David  and  Conan,  sons  of  Owain.  A  furious  fight  took  place 
in  the  "  trackless  wood."  The  Constable  of  Chester  and 
Robert  de  Courcy  were  slain.  Henry  himself  would  have  been 
killed  but  for  the  bravery  of  Roger  of  Hereford.  Panic  seized 
the  English  standard-bearer,  Henry  of  Essex,  Constable  of 
England,  who  fled.  At  last,  however,  the  king  gathered  his 
scattered  forces  together  and  escaped  into  the  open  fields 
again. 

It  was  in  connexion  with  this  fight  in  the  wood  of  Coleshill 
that  a  pathetic  incident  occurred  of  which  Giraldus  speaks. 
According  to  the  story  he  relates,  it  appears  that  a  young 
Welshman  was  killed  "  while  passing  through  the  king's  army." 
A  greyhound  which  accompanied  him,  seeing  its  master  fall, 
stayed  by  his  side,  and  did  not  desert  the  corpse  for  eight  days, 
though  without  food.  Faithfully  it  guarded  the  lifeless  body 
from  the  attacks  of  dogs,  wolves,  and  birds  of  prey.  When  the 
English  soldiery  came  up  they  found  the  dog,  now  almost 
starved  to  death,  still  keeping  guard.  Giraldus  adds  :  "  As 
a  mark  of  favour  to  the  dog  .  .  .  the  English,  although  bitter 
enemies  of  the  Welsh,  ordered  the  body  ...  to  be  deposited 
in  the  ground  with  the  accustomed  offices." 

Owain,  meanwhile,  uncertain  of  the  success  or  failure  of  his 
sons,  and  fearing  to  be  outflanked,  hesitated  to  accept  the 
attacks  in  front  and  rear  which  threatened  him.  He  retreated 
without  giving  battle.  Henry,  meanwhile,  had  rejoined  his 
270 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

main  army  and  proceeded  to  Rhuddlan  "  in  a  rage,"  as  the 
Welsh  chronicler  tells  us. 

Henry's  reverses  were,  however,  by  no  means  at  an  end. 
Owain,  now  encamped  in  front  of  I/lwyn  Pina  (identified  by 
Powel  with  Bryn-y-pin),  continually  harassed  Henry  by  day 
and  night.  Owain,  meanwhile,  had  obtained  the  aid  of 
Madog  of  Powys,1  so  that  almost  the  whole  of  north-eastern 
Wales  was  encamped  around  Henry.  Meanwhile  the  sea 
attack  had  been  a  failure,  for  the  marines,  after  some  few 
successes  against  churches  in  Mon,  were  forced  by  the  men  of 
Anglesey  to  fight.  The  battle  resulted  in  complete  victory  for 
the  Welsh.  Henry,  a  son  of  Henry  I  by  Nest  of  Pembroke, 
was  slain,  Robert  fitz  Stephen  was  wounded,  and  many  of  the 
Norman  leaders  were  killed. 

Henry,  hearing  of  this  ill  news,  seems  to  have  decided  to 
abandon  the  whole  campaign.  Peace  upon  terms  was  offered 
to  Owain,  and  accepted.  Henry  had  gained  no  single  victory 
on  land  or  sea,  but  Owain  was  wise  enough  to  see  that  he  was 
no  match  for  the  ruler  of  well-nigh  all  France  and  England 
and  Scotland  if  it  came  to  a  real  struggle  for  supremacy.  He 
therefore  agreed  to  give  hostages  for  good  behaviour,  to 
relinquish  Tegeingl  and  restore  to  Cadwalader  his  former 
possessions.  About  the  same  time  lorwerth  the  Red,  son  of 
Maredudd  of  Powys,  burned  the  castle  of  Buddugre,  in  Yale, 
but  recently  built,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Owain. 

It  was  now  that  Owain  showed  himself  to  be  something 
more  than  the  brave  chieftain  of  a  clan.  Realizing  that  times 
had  changed  and  that  open  resistance  was  useless,  he  aban- 
doned defiance  and  resisted  the  temptation  to  pick  quarrels 
with  the  Norman  marchers. 

POSITION  IN  SOUTH  WALES 

Meanwhile  in  the  south  the  sons  of  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  of 
Deheubarth,  had  been  indulging  in  a  perfect  orgy  of  fighting. 
These  sons  of  Rhys  were  typical  Welsh  chieftains.  Brave, 
daring,  filled  with  a  passionate  hatred  of  the  Normans,  they 

1  See  as  to  this  p.  273. 

271 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

devoted  their  time  to  castle-razing.  As  time  passed  it  became 
with  them  almost  a  hobby.  The  presence  of  a  castle,  Norman 
or  Welsh,  which  did  not  belong  to  them  seems  to  have  filled 
them  with  a  longing  to  destroy  it.  Mabudryd,  Caermarthen, 
Gwys,  Tenby,  Aberafan,  L,lanrhystud,  had  been  burnt  or 
captured.  The  years  had  been  full  of  danger,  and  two  of  the 
brave  three,  Cadell  and  Maredudd,  early  met  with  injuries, 
injuries  which  cost  the  one  his  life,  the  other  his  valour. 
Maredudd  was  but  twenty-five  when  he  died.  He  left  his 
younger  brother,  Rhys,  sole  heir  to  Deheubarth  (Maredudd 
had  lost  his  nerve  owing  to  his  wounds  and  had  turned  pious). 
Young  though  Rhys  was,  he  came  of  a  brave  race,  and  was 
destined  to  live  for  many  years  the  champion  of  South 
Wales  and  its  redoubtable  protector  against  the  might  of 
England. 

While  Henry  was  launching  his  army  against  Owain  in  the 
north  Rhys  was  ravaging  the  south.  The  day  of  reckoning 
had,  however,  come.  Young  Rhys,  lacking  the  older  Owain's 
wisdom,  failed  to  bow  before  the  storm  and  prepared  to  resist. 
We  believe  that  history  has  few  finer  examples  of  reckless 
bravery  than  this  of  young  Rhys,  a  mere  lad,  entrenching 
himself  and  his  clansmen  in  the  forests  of  South  Wales,  pre- 
pared to  meet  alone  and  without  allies  the  might  of  Henry, 
king  or  duke  not  only  of  England,  but  of  almost  all  France 
and  Scotland.  At  last,  however,  wiser  counsels  prevailed  and 
Rhys  made  submission.  As  a  result  of  the  terms  of  peace  the 
Clares  and  the  Cliffords  came  back  to  South  Wales.  Earl 
Roger  of  Hereford,  son  of  Richard  fitz  Gilbert,  crept  back  to 
Ceredigion  to  seize  under  the  shadow  of  the  king  what  for 
twenty-two  years  he  had  been  unable  to  take  for  himself. 
Castles  at  Ystrad  Meurig,  Aberdovey,  Dineirth,  and  I/lan- 
rhystud  and  Castle  Humphry  reverted  to  the  Normans. 
Cantref  Bychan  and  I^landovery  went  once  more  to  the 
Cliffords.  The  Normans  had  thus  won  back  in  South  Wales 
almost  all  that  had  been  gained.  The  Welsh,  however,  soon 
renewed  the  attack.  Castle  Humphry  was  again  destroyed, 
and  a  campaign  commenced  against  the  new  Norman  lords 
272 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

and  many  castles  were  burnt.     Henry,  however,  again  inter- 
posed, Rhys  submitted,  and  peace  was  made. 

POWYS 

In  the  meantime  Madog  of  Powys  had  died  in  1160.  We 
find  this  Madog  referred  to  as  the  ally  of  England  in  the  recent 
campaign  against  Owain.  The  evidence  for  this  is,  however, 
doubtful.  The  Brut  y  Tywysogion,  dealing  with  the  events  of 
1157,  tells  us  that  after  Henry  had  reached  Rhuddlan  and 
Owain  had  encamped  in  front  of  Llwyn  Pina,  "  Madog,  son  of 
Maredudd,  lord  of  Powys,  selected  his  position  for  encamping 
between  the  army  of  the  king  and  the  army  of  Owain,  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  meet  the  first  attack  made  by  the  king."  The 
Annales  Cambriae  is  silent  on  the  subject,  save  that  in  one 
text  we  have  the  words  "  Henricus  .  .  .  ad  campestria  Cestriae 
duxit  .  .  .  adjuvante  Madauc  .  .  .  et  venit  ad  Dynas  Basic." 
We  also  find  that  a  payment  was  made  by  the  sheriff  of 
Shropshire  in  that  year  to  "Maddock,  £8  los."  The  Brut 
Saeson  also  gives  Madog  charge  of  the  fleet.  Again,  Madog's 
brother,  lorwerth  the  Red,  did  certainly  attack  Owain's  castle 
in  Yale.  On  the  other  hand,  Madog  lost  Oswestry  Castle, 
which  he  had  built,  and  which  was  given  by  Henry  to  William 
fitz  Alan.  He  gained  nothing  by  the  terms  of  peace,  although 
Cadwalader,  who,  we  know,  was  on  Henry's  side,  was  most 
carefully  provided  for  by  Henry  when  drafting  the  terms. 
Again,  if  Madog  was  a  traitor  to  his  country,  a  person  who 
would  sell  his  help  for  £8  ios.,  how  are  we  to  account  for  the 
entry  in  the  Brut,  where  we  have  a  glowing  account  of  him, 
his  bravery  and  his  beauty  ?  Further,  how  can  we  account 
for  the  friendship  which  clearly  subsisted  between  Powys  and 
Gwynedd  in  1160  if  we  are  to  regard  Madog  as  having  been 
opposed  to  Owain  in  1157  ?  These  considerations  leave  us 
doubtful  as  to  Madog's  attitude  in  1157.  For  his  sake  we 
trust  he  was  found  on  the  side  of  his  countrymen.  Welsh 
historians  have  been  less  kind  to  him.  He  is  portrayed  as  one 
of  Henry's  allies.  Ally  or  no  ally,  his  death  made  little  differ- 
ence to  Owain's  policy ;  he  still  pursued  his  policy  of  peace. 

3  273 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

The  death  of  Madog  did,  however,  have  one  considerable 
result.  Powys  was  no  longer  ruled  by  one  man,  but  was 
split  up  into  a  number  of  small  lordships.  It  was  divided 
among  Owain  Cyfeiliog,  lorwerth  the  Red,  Gruff ydd,  Owain 
Vychan  ('  the  lyittle'),  and  Owain  Brogyntyn.  The  result,  for 
our  purpose,  was  twofold — Powys  was  weakened  and  the 
doings  of  its  chieftains  became  so  petty  as  hardly  to  deserve 
attention.  To  show  how  little  love  the  house  of  Powys  had 
for  Henry,  despite  the  imagined  alliance  of  1157,  the  year 
1163  saw  the  destruction  of  the  royal  castle  of  Carreghofa. 

HENRY'S  THIRD  EXPEDITION 

In  1162  the  old-time  enmity  between  Powys  and  Gwynedd 
was  renewed.  One  of  O wain's  castles  was  seized;  but  the 
turn  soon  came.  Owain  moved  an  army  into  Arwystli  as  far 
as  lylandinam  and  inflicted  a  severe  loss  on  the  Powysians. 
Shortly  afterward  Owain's  son,  David,  made  an  attack  upon 
Tegeingl,  which  he  ravaged  and  denuded  of  its  population  and 
cattle,  taking  the  latter  with  him  into  the  Vale  of  Clwyd.  This, 
of  course,  was  practically  a  tearing  up  of  the  peace  of  1157. 
Henry  instantly  took  steps  to  punish  these  troublesome 
princes.  Henry  had,  indeed,  good  cause  to  complain.  Not 
only  in  the  north  had  his  subjects  been  harassed.  Rhys  of 
Deheubarth  had  been  a  sore  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  marchers 
of  South  Wales  for  years,  and  had  constantly  required  Henry's 
attention.  The  English  king  seems,  indeed,  to  have  decided 
on  a  thorough  and  final  conquest.  As  the  Welsh  chronicler 
tells  us,  he  "  collected  a  vast  army  of  the  choice  warriors  of 
England,  Normandy,  Flanders,  Anjou,  Gascony,  and  all 
Britain,  and  came  to  Oswestry,  proposing  to  transport  and 
destroy  the  whole  of  the  Britons."  This,  of  course,  is 
exaggeration.  Henry  did,  however,  make  considerable  pre- 
parations. The  sheriffs  of  London  alone  paid  nearly  £170  for 
shields  and  clothing  for  the  campaign,  a  very  large  sum 
for  those  days.  Troops  were  requisitioned  from  many  of 
Henry's  Continental  dominions,  heavy  cavalry  was  collected, 
large  stores  and  all  the  armoury  of  war  were  assembled  and 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

sent  down  to  Shrewsbury.  Danish  mercenaries  from  Dublin 
were  engaged  to  harass  Gwynedd  by  sea.  All  was  complete 
and  the  struggle  had  commenced  by  May  of  1165. 

THE  WELSH  REPLY 

Whether  or  not  there  were  traitors  in  the  struggle  of  1157, 
now  all  Wales  stood  together  facing  the  national  peril.  Owain, 
with  his  brother  Cadwalader,  led  Gwynedd ;  Rhys  of  Deheu- 
barth  led  the  men  of  the  south.  Powys  was  captained  by 
Owain  Cyfeiliog,  lorwerth  the  Red,  and  all  the  sons  of 
Madog.  "  Together,  united  and  undaunted,  they  came  into 
Edeyrnion,  and  encamped  at  Corwen." 

There  is  something  very  fine  in  all  this.  One's  sympathy 
always  goes  out  to  the  weaker  side,  and  Wales,  small  in  the 
number  of  its  people,  poor  in  the  quality  of  its  soil,  had  waged 
so  plucky,  so  gallant  a  fight  for  so  many  years  against  its 
more  powerful  neighbour.  The  Saxons  had  come  and  had 
been  beaten  back  ;  the  Normans  had  come  and  had  been 
resolutely  opposed  for  well-nigh  a  century.  Meanwhile  these 
fighting  folk  found  time  to  slay  each  other.  But  now,  in  a 
time  of  grave  national  peril,  Wales  lost  its  name  and  became 
once  more  Cymru,  the  land  of  the  Britons.  Side  by  side  these 
men  who  but  a  few  short  months  ago  had  been  fighting  one 
another  prepared  to  meet  their  common  enemy. 

Owain  Gwynedd,  now  the  leader  of  Cymru,  kept  back  his 
main  host,  and  at  the  same  time  sent  forward  a  few  chosen 
warriors  to  attack  and  harass  the  onward  march  of  the  king. 
Henry,  meanwhile,  from  his  base  at  Oswestry,  to  which  town 
he  had  journeyed  from  Shrewsbury,  struck  across  the  moun- 
tains into  the  woods  of  the  Vale  of  Ceiriog.  As  before,  once 
in  the  forests  of  Wales,  Henry  was  as  one  lost.  The  skir- 
mishers whom  Owain  had  sent  out  to  harass  him  eagerly 
seized  this  opportunity  to  inflict  heavy  loss  at  little  cost. 
Henry,  indeed,  found  it  necessary  to  have  the  woods  cleared, 
so  dangerous  were  they  to  his  progress.  At  last,  however,  he 
emerged  from  the  valley  and  commenced  the  passage  of  the 
Berwyn  range.  These  mountains,  as  those  who  have  travelled 

«  275 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

in  North  Wales  know,  rise  quickly  from  the  plains  to  a  con- 
siderable altitude.  Their  sides,  bleak  and  barren,  offer  little 
or  no  cover  to  an  advancing  army  ;  the  range  is  so  con- 
tinuous that  a  general  must  look  in  vain  for  passes  through 
which  to  lead  his  army  in  safety.  Henry's  progress  was  not 
unopposed,  but  he  succeeded  in  encamping  the  advance  posts 
of  his  forces  in  the  mountains  of  Berwyn.  It  was  while  here 
that  he  was  overtaken  by  storms  of  rain,  which  made  the 
mountains  impassable  and  prevented  supplies  of  food  from 
being  brought  from  his  base. 

Henry,  realizing  that  his  position  was  becoming  one  of 
danger,  decided  to  retreat.  We  can  imagine  his  ire.  Of 
all  the  kings  of  England,  no  one  is  more  noted  for  his  furious 
temper,  and  we  are  told  that  he  sometimes  raged  in  anger  like 
a  maniac.  This  was  one  of  those  occasions.  His  wrath  fell 
directly  upon  the  hostages  whom  Owain  had  given  after  the 
earlier  campaign ;  these,  to  the  number  of  twenty-two,  he 
blinded.  The  unhappy  men  numbered  among  them  many 
of  Wales' s  noblest  princes,  including  two  sons  of  Owain  and 
one  son  of  Rhys  ap  Gruffydd  (who  must  have  been  but  a 
child  at  the  time). 

Henry  now  abandoned  the  whole  campaign.  The  Irish 
mercenaries  were  paid  off  and  the  king  returned  to  England. 

WELSH  SUCCESS  IN  SOUTH  WALES 

The  danger  past,  the  Welsh  chieftains  parted,  each  return- 
ing to  his  own  country.  Rhys  of  Deheubarth  was  the  first  to 
take  advantage  of  the  Berwyn  debacle.  Cardigan  Castle  was 
attacked,  and,  after  being  betrayed  by  a  Welsh  cleric  to  Rhys, 
was  burned  and  much  booty  taken.  Rhys  then  seized  the 
Carew  castle  of  Cilgerran  and  imprisoned  Robert  fitz  Stephen. 
He  had  by  now  regained  almost  all  that  he  had  lost  during 
his  earlier  struggles  with  Henry. 

Several  attempts  were  subsequently  made  by  the  Normans 
and  Flemings  to  retake  Cilgerran,  but  without  success,  and 
Rhys   remained    master    of    Ceredigion    and    south-western 
Wales. 
276 


OWAIN    GWYNEDD 

WELSH  SUCCESS  IN  NORTH  WALES 

While  these  successes  were  being  gained  in  the  south  Owain 
was  not  idle  in  the  north,  for  we  find  him  destroying  Basing- 
werk  Castle.  Meanwhile  there  was  trouble  in  the  house  of 
Powys.  Owain  Cyfeiliog  and  Owain  Vychan  drove  out 
lorwerth  the  Red,  and  in  the  next  year  Owain  Cyfeiliog  was 
himself  dispossessed  of  Caereinion  by  Owain  Gwynedd, 
Cadwalader,  and  Rhys  of  Deheubarth.  Caereinion  was  given 
to  Owain  Vychan,  but  Owain  Cyfeiliog  shortly  afterward 
attacked  it  again  and  destroyed  it. 

Owain,  Cadwalader,  and  Rhys  now  turned  their  attention 
to  Rhuddlan  Castle.  This  stronghold  had  since  Robert  of 
Rhuddlan's  time  been  the  chief  of  the  outlying  posts  of  the 
Normans  in  North  Wales.  The  garrison,  after  resisting  for 
three  months,  during  which  time  no  aid  arrived  from  England, 
capitulated,  and  the  castle  was  burnt.  The  same  fate  befell 
Prestatyn,  and  the  Welsh  princes,  well  satisfied  with  their 
autumn  campaign,  returned  to  celebrate  Christmas  with 
rejoicings. 

Tegeingl  was  now  again  joined  to  Gwynedd,  and  Owain,  by 
a  rare  mixture  of  strength,  bravery,  and  caution,  had  extended 
his  dominions  from  the  Dovey  to  the  Dee. 

His  end  was  now  approaching.  Two  years  after  the  capture 
of  Rhuddlan,  after  a  time  of  general  peace  so  rare  in  Wales, 
Owain  Gwenydd,  "  a  man  of  great  celebrity,  and  of  the  most 
extraordinary  sagacity,  nobleness,  fortitude,  and  bravery," 
died.  The  last  year  of  his  life  was  troubled  by  a  dispute  with 
the  Church,  but  he  was  absolved  upon  his  deathbed. 


277 


CHAPTER    XVI 
THE  LORD  RHYS 

THE  death  of  Owain  Gwynedd  in  1170  opened  the  way 
for  the  rise  to  pre-eminence  of  his  energetic  fellow- 
prince,  Rhys  of  Deheubarth,  or  Rhys  ap  Gruff ydd 
('  the  Lord  Rhys ' — yr  Arglwydd  Rhys).  We  have  already  had 
occasion  to  mention  examples  of  his  bravery  and  his  daring. 
Until  now,  however,  the  northern  prince  had  held  the  central 
position  on  the  stage  of  Welsh  history.  It  may  be  that  Owain 
was  fortunate  in  having  for  the  seat  of  his  power  the  more 
rugged  north,  where,  guarded  by  the  mountains  of  Eryri,  he 
could  look  out  with  comparative  safety  on  the  attempted 
aggressions  of  the  English  and  upon  the  abortive  punitive 
expeditions  of  Henry.  Rhys,  on  the  other  hand,  held  sway 
in  the  comparatively  flat  lands  of  the  south,  and  so,  quite  apart 
from  questions  of  military  competence,  was  exposed  in  greater 
measure  than  Owain  to  hostile  attacks  from  England. 

Again,  owing  to  the  natural  military  strength  of  northern 
Wales,  Owain  had,  so  to  speak,  a  handicap  in  the  race  for 
chieftaincy,  an  advantage  which  he  was  not  slow  to  take,  and 
one  which,  as  we  have  seen,  resulted  in  his  being  well-nigh 
supreme  among  the  chieftains  of  Cymru. 

Rhys,  however,  even  in  his  earlier  years,  had  not  been  idle, 
nor  had  he  taken  a  very  secondary  share  in  the  movements 
which  had  almost  freed  Wales  from  the  dominion  of  the 
marchers.  Born  about  1132,  as  early  as  1146,  when  but  a 
boy,  he  had  assisted  Cadell,  his  brother,  in  the  capture  of 
castles  at  Dinweileir,  Caermarthen,  and  Llanstephen.  In  the 
year  following  he  joined  in  the  attack  on  Wiston  Castle.  In 
1150  he  was.  to  the  forefront  in  the  movement  which  resulted 
278 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

in  the  expulsion  of  Owain's  son,  Howel,  from  South  Ceredigion. 
Of  the  years  which  followed,  which  saw  the  conquest  of  North 
Ceredigion,  the  capture  of  Tenby,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
castles  of  Aberafan  and  Ystrad  Cyngen,  we  have  already  spoken. 
The  year  1153,  when  Cadell  was  absent  on  a  pilgrimage, 
leaving  his  possessions  in  the  charge  of  his  younger  brothers, 
Maredudd  and  Rhys,  marked  an  advancement  in  Rhys' 
fortunes.  These  were  still  further  improved  by  the  untimely 
death  of  Maredudd  in  1155.  Rhys  was  now  ruler  of  Dyfed, 
Ceredigion,  and  Ystrad  Tywi,  though,  of  course,  important 
parts  of  those  districts  were  still  held  by  marcher  lords,  chief 
of  whom  may  be  reckoned  the  Clares. 

RHYS    ATTACKS   THE   MARCHERS 

The  year  1158  saw  Rhys'  first  serious  conflict  with  the 
English  king.  As  we  have  seen,  he  submitted  on  terms,  having 
been  persuaded  by  fair  promises.  These  promises,  as  we  know, 
were  not  kept,  and  the  Cliffords  and  Clares  came  back  once 
more  into  power  in  Ceredigion.  The  result  was  a  campaign  of 
castle-razing  undertaken  by  Rhys  against  these  lords.  The 
castle  of  I/landovery,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Cliff ords,  was 
captured,  and  the  Clares'  castle  in  Ceredigion  was  burnt.  In 
1159  more  castles  were  destroyed  in  Dyfed,  and  siege  was  laid 
to  Caermarthen  Castle  itself.  This  siege  was,  however,  un- 
successful. Rhys  was  compelled  by  the  relieving  force  under 
Reginald,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  to  abandon  all  present  hope  of 
taking  this  stronghold. 

This  force,  which  was  composed  of  French,  Normans, 
Flemings,  and  English,  combined  with  a  Welsh  contingent  from 
the  north  in  a  counter-attack  upon  Rhys  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  same  year,  and  Rhys  was  closely  beset  in  his  castle  of 
Dinweileir.  He  was,  however,  strong  enough  to  keep  the 
castle,  despite  the  fact  that  his  enemies  numbered  among 
themselves,  besides  the  Earl  of  Cornwall,  the  Earl  of  Bristol, 
and  the  Clares,  the  Welsh  leaders  Cadwalader  and  Howel  and 
Conan  of  Gwynedd,  who  doubtless  were  seeking  to  revenge 
themselves  for  previous  defeats.  A  truce  was  patched  up, 

279 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

and,  in  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  the  enemies  of  Rhys 
"  returned  home  with  unemployed  hands." 

RHYS  SUBMITS  TO  HENRY 

Rhys  next  comes  into  prominence  in  1163,  when  Henry  II 
led  an  army  into  South  Wales  to  reduce  him  to  obedience. 
The  Welsh,  conquered  by  superstition,  offered  no  resistance  to 
Henry's  advance.  A  prophecy  attributed  to  Merlin,  to  the 
effect  that  a  freckled  man  who  crossed  the  Ford  of  Pencarn 
would  bring  disaster  to  their  land,  had  long  been  known  to  the 
men  of  Deheubarth.  This  ford  at  the  time  of  Henry's  coming 
had  long  been  disused,  but  the  king's  horse,  frightened  by 
the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  shied,  refused  the  usual  crossing, 
cantered  along  the  bank  of  the  stream,  and  plunged  into  the 
water  at  the  ancient  ford.  With  this  dark  omen  before  him, 
and  doubtless  also  persuaded  by  his  isolated  position  and 
Henry's  might,  Rhys  submitted,  and  returned  with  the  king 
to  England,  where,  later  in  the  year,  he  did  homage  to  his 
overlord  at  the  Council  of  Woodstock. 

The  next  year  was  to  show,  however,  that  his  homage  was 
but  a  form,  his  fealty  mere  lip-service.  Hardly  was  he  back 
in  Wales  when  he  commenced  to  burn  and  destroy  more  castles 
in  Dyfed.  In  the  year  following,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  one 
of  the  band  of  patriots  who  gathered  at  Corwen  among  the 
mountains  of  the  north  to  resist  the  attempted  subjugation  of 
their  land  by  Henry.  How  that  expedition  failed,  beaten  by 
Wales' s  impregnable  mountains  and  the  fury  of  the  elements, 
together  with  the  bravery  of  Owain's  advance  posts,  we  have 
already  stated.  The  Welsh  princes  were  not  slow  to  mark 
the  weakness  of  the  king  ;  all  made  renewed  efforts  to  cast 
off  the  yoke  which  was  threatening  to  bear  them  down,  and 
in  this  movement  Rhys  was  by  no  means  the  least  energetic 
or  the  least  successful. 

Cardigan  Castle  and  Cilgerran  were  laid  siege  to  and  taken, 
as  we  have  seen.  Rhys  was  again  master  of  Ceredigion.  In 
1167  he  was  again  in  league  with  Owain,  this  time  first  against 
Powys,  and  later  in  the  successful  attack  upon  Rhuddlan 
280 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

Castle.     In  1168  he  was  busy  building  a  castle  at  Aber  Einion 
and  invading  Brecknock. 

Thus  we  see  that  in  the  years  when  Owain  was  the  admitted 
leader  of  the  Welsh  Rhys  in  the  south  was  doing  many 
redoubtable  things,  and,  when  joint  action  was  necessary,  was 
to  be  found  a  trusty  lieutenant  in  support  of  Owain.  With 
the  death  of  Owain  in  1170  the  lieutenant  became  the  general. 
In  the  years  which  follow  the  Lord  Rhys  is  the  most  powerful 
figure  in  Wales.  There  was  another  and  more  important 
event  which  happened  in  that  year  which  greatly  strengthened 
the  hands  of  all  Henry's  enemies.  The  murder  of  Becket, 
resulting  as  it  did  in  the  virtual  banishment  of  the  king  from 
the  hearts  and  love  of  all  good  men,  made  England's  ruler  for 
years  impotent  to  aid  or  harm.  England's  weakness  was 
always,  in  those  days,  Wales's  strength,  and  Rhys  was  ever 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  dipping  of  the  balance. 

There  was  yet  another  cause  which  advanced  the  power  of 
the  Welsh,  particularly  the  Welsh  of  the  south.  The  years 
1166-70  had  seen  the  departure  of  several  important  marcher 
lords  from  South  Wales  to  Ireland,  where  they  had  espoused 
the  cause  of  Dermot,  king  of  Leinster.  One  of  these,  Richard 
of  Clare,  had  prospered  so  well  that  on  the  death  of  Dermot  in 
1171  Richard  was  nominated  his  successor.  Henry  II  now 
determined  to  take  a  hand  in  the  struggle.  With  the  memories 
of  Stephen's  reign  ever  present,  it  is  little  wonder  that  he 
looked  with  no  great  favour  on  this  quick  advancement  to 
kingly  power  of  one  of  his  barons. 

The  king,  having  collected  a  large  force  with  which  to  bring 
Richard  to  submission,  prepared  to  cross  over  to  Ireland  from 
Milford  Haven.  Richard,  however,  made  peace,  and  the 
movement  is  only  of  importance  to  us  since  it  resulted  in  a 
compact  being  made  between  Henry  and  Rhys.  The  Welsh 
prince,  though  having  to  give  hostages  and  pay  a  fine,  was 
taken  back  into  full  favour.  The  possessions  which  Rhys  had 
won  were  formally  recognized  as  his,  and  he  was  soon  after- 
ward made  a  justice  of  Deheubarth.  His  son  Howel,  who 
had  been  a  hostage  for  many  years,  was  also  released. 

281 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

HENRY'S  PILGRIMAGE  TO  ST.  DAVID'S 

It  was  after  Henry's  return  from  Ireland  that  the  king  made 
his  famous  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  David.  According 
to  Giraldus,  he  proceeded  to  the  holy  place  in  the  guise  of  a 
pilgrim,  on  foot,  and  staff  in  hand.  While  the  solemn  pro- 
cession which  had  been  formed  was  proceeding  on  its  way  we 
are  told  that  a  woman  whose  petition  to  the  king  had  been 
ignored,  in  the  passionate  manner  peculiar  to  the  Celts  of  all 
times,  shouted  out,  with  a  loud  voice,  the  imprecation : 
"  Avenge  us  this  day,  I,echlawar  !  Avenge  our  race  and  nation 
on  this  man  ! "  The  reference  was  to  a  prophecy  of  Merlin's 
(according  to  vulgar  belief)  to  the  effect  that  a  king  of 
England  returning  through  Menevia  after  the  conquest  of 
Ireland  should  die  on  L/echlawar  ('the  Speaking-stone'),  a 
block  of  marble  forming  a  bridge  over  a  stream  on  the  way 
to  St.  David's.  The  king,  having  arrived  at  '  the  Speaking- 
stone,'  after  a  momentary  hesitation  boldly  crossed  over. 
Finding,  doubtless  to  his  intense  relief — for  he  had  his  share 
of  superstitious  belief — that  he  was  still  alive,  he  said  with 
some  indignation  :  "  Who  now  will  have  any  faith  hi  that  liar 
Merlin  ?  "  So  saying,  he  entered  the  church,  paid  his  devo- 
tions, and  heard  Mass  solemnly  celebrated. 

THE  POWER  OF  RHYS  ESTABLISHED 

After  the  departure  of  Henry,  Rhys,  now  his  overlord's 
friend,  was  in  a  position  of  great  strength  in  the  south.  This 
friendship  was  advanced  shortly  afterward  by  the  aid  which 
the  lord  of  Deheubarth  gave  to  Henry  during  the  revolt 
against  the  king  which  took  place  in  1173.  His  son  Howel 
Sais  ('  the  Englishman ' — in  reference  to  his  long  sojourn  in 
England  as  a  hostage)  was  sent  to  aid  the  king  in  France,  and 
later  Rhys  sent  troops  to  support  the  king's  cause  both  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent.  Rhys'  position  is  perhaps 
best  shown  by  the  events  of  1175.  Henry  had  now  returned 
from  France,  the  revolt  headed  by  his  sons  had  been  subdued, 
Becket's  death  was  beginning  to  fade,  in  some  slight  degree, 
282 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

from  men's  minds.  The  time  had  come  to  settle  the  affairs  of 
the  kingdom.  At  the  council  held  at  Gloucester,  among  other 
important  matters  the  condition  of  Wales  was  fully  considered. 
Rhys  was  summoned,  and  by  the  advice  of  the  king  (according 
to  the  Brut)  he  took  with  him  all  the  princes  of  the  south. 
The  meeting  seems  to  have  been  mutually  satisfactory.  The 
princes  returned  peaceably  to  their  country.  One  of  them, 
lorwerth  ap  Owain,  who  had  been  deprived  of  Caerleon  by 
Henry  some  years  before,  had  it  returned  to  him,  and  Rhys 
was  advanced  yet  farther  into  King  Henry's  favour.  The 
chronicler,  indeed,  tells  us  that  he  was  "  the  most  beloved 
friend  of  the  king  at  that  time."  His  friendship  was  of  value 
to  his  own  country  while  still  being  of  assistance  to  England. 

South  Wales  was,  indeed,  settling  down  into  a  state  of 
amity  with  England.  Under  Rhys'  guidance  it  prospered  for 
many  years.  The  feuds  of  the  past  could  not,  however,  be 
forgotten  in  a  moment.  This  very  year  which  saw  the  peaceful 
return  of  the  chieftains  from  Gloucester  witnessed  in  Wales 
an  act  of  unusual  barbarity.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year 
Henry,  a  brother  of  Earl  Roger  of  Hereford  who  had  succeeded 
to  the  lordships  of  Brecknock  and  Upper  Gwent,  was  slain  by 
Seisyll  ap  Dyfnwal,  one  of  the  princes  in  Rhys'  train,  and  one 
who  had  married  into  Rhys'  family,  his  wife  Gwladus  being 
that  prince's  sister.  On  Seisyll's  return  from  Gloucester, 
Henry's  nephew,  William  of  Breose,  now  lord  of  Abergavenny, 
avenged  his  uncle's  death  by  murdering  Seisyll  and  his  son 
Gruff ydd,  whom  he  had  lured  to  his  castle  to  hear  a  royal 
ordinance  read.  Not  content  with  this  act  of  treachery, 
William  sent  men  to  the  court  of  Seisyll,  where  they  seized 
Gwladus  and  her  young  child,  Cadwalader,  a  seven-year-old 
boy,  whom  they  slew  in  his  mother's  arms.  We  are  not 
surprised  to  find  our  chronicler  writing  that  as  a  result  of  this 
double  act  of  infamy  "  none  of  the  Welsh  dared  trust  to  the 
French." 

Meanwhile  during  this  tragic  year  some  terrible  deeds  had 
been  committed  around  Caerleon.  The  times  are  too  refined 
to  permit  us  to  relate  the  mutilations  practised  by  Howel  of 

283 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Caerleon  on  his  uncle  Owain  Pencarwn.  About  the  same 
time  Gwynedd  was  also  witnessing  a  bitter  struggle  between 
contending  factions  of  the  same  house.  Owain's  sons  were 
effecting  what  Rhys'  sons  were  also  destined  to  accomplish — 
the  break-up  of  the  ordered  state  which  the  wisdom  of  their 
father  had  brought  about.  At  the  moment  David  ap  Owain 
had  succeeded  in  fettering  his  brother  Rhodri  to  some  dungeon 
wall.  Rhodri  soon  escaped,  however,  and  the  end  of  the  year 
saw  David  expelled  from  Mon  and  Gwynedd  and  driven  over 
the  river  Conway. 

RHYS  A  PATRON  OF  THE  ARTS 

Leaving  these  petty  doings  of  little  tyrants,  we  must  return 
to  the  lyord  Rhys.  Like  Gruff ydd  ap  Cynan,  now  that  he  had 
reached  a  position  of  power  he  is  found  turning  from  the  rude 
severities  of  war  to  the  more  gentle  arts  of  peace.  Like  the 
great  leader  of  Gwynedd,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  patron  of 
bardism  and  music.  In  1176,  after  the  return  from  Gloucester, 
he  held  a  grand  festival  at  his  castle  of  Aberteifi,  at  which  he 
appointed  two  competitions,  one  between  bards  and  poets, 
and  the  other  between  the  harpers,  fiddlers  (chrythoryon) , 
pipers,  and  various  other  performers  of  instrumental  music. 
We  are  also  told  that  he  assigned  two  chairs  for  the  victors 
in  the  contests,  which  he  enriched  "  with  vast  gifts."  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  men  of  the  south  won  the  chair 
for  music,  the  men  of  the  north  that  for  poetry — a  division  of 
talent  which  not  improbably  lives  on  to-day. 

DEATH  OF  HENRY  II 

The  next  few  years  were  quite  uneventful  in  the  south, 
though  disputes  in  the  north  and  in  Powys  were  still  raging. 
We  gather  that  Rhys  was  continuing  to  consolidate  his  power, 
and  in  1177  we  hear  of  his  erecting  a  castle  at  Rhaiadr  Gwy. 
In  1 1 87  his  son  Maelgwn  appears  to  have  carried  out  a  small 
raid  which  resulted  in  the  ravaging  and  burning  of  Tenby. 
This  seems  to  have  been  directed  against  the  Flemings,  and 
evidently  caused  great  delight  to  the  compiler  of  the  Brut, 
284 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

who  refers  to  Maelgwn  in  most  glowing  terms,  calling  him 
"  the  shield  and  strength  of  all  the  south,"  and  likening  him 
to  a  lion.1  It  is  probable  that  the  son  was  bidding  to  outshine 
the  father.  However  that  may  be,  in  1189  we  find  Rhys 
imprisoning  Maelgwn,  now  referred  to  as  "  the  light,  and 
beauty,  and  courtesy,  and  shield,  and  strength,  and  liberty  of 
all  the  south  and  the  terror  of  the  Saxons,  the  best  knight, 
second  to  Gwalchmai." 

It  was  in  this  year  (1189)  that  Henry  of  England  died.  The 
date  was  an  important  one  for  Wales,  since  it  commenced  a 
period  of  weak  government  for  England.  Richard  the  Cru- 
sader, fired  by  the  preaching  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
was  away.  Never  at  home  in  England,  he  was  an  example  of 
a  brave  and  chivalrous  man  who  came  near  to  being  one  of 
our  worst  kings.  Followed  by  the  anarchy  of  John  and  the 
minority  of  Henry  III,  Richard's  accession  commenced  an 
era  when  Wales  ceased  to  bow  before  the  strength  of  the 
English  king.  For  many  decades,  indeed,  Wales  was  virtually 
independent.  These  years  we  must  now  hastily  consider. 

In  the  very  year  in  which  Henry  died  we  find  the  Lord 
Rhys  taking  possession  of  the  castles  of  St.  Clear,  Aber  Corran, 
and  Ivlanstephen.  He  also  about  this  time  ravaged  Penfro 
Rhos  and  Gower,  and  three  years  later  the  castle  of  Llann- 
hadein  fell  into  his  hands.  To  recount  all  the  minor  happen- 
ings of  this  time  would  be  tedious,  but  it  is  desirable  to  point 
out  the  general  trend  of  events,  so  that  the  era  of  the  lylywelyns 
may  be  understood. 

POSITION  OF  WALES  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  HENRY 

At  or  about  this  time  the  three  main  divisions  of  Wales  were 
controlled  by  the  I^ord  Rhys,  who  governed  Deheubarth, 
Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys,  and  I^ywelyn  ap  lorwerth  of  Gwynedd. 
Of  these  Rhys  was  undoubtedly  the  predominant  personality 
at  the  time  of  Henry's  death.  He  was,  however,  growing  old. 
He  was  not  less  than  fifty-seven  years  of  age — and  men  grew 
old  quickly  in  those  troublous  times.  There  were  signs, 

1  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Maelgwn  was  worthy  of  this  eulogy. 

285 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

indeed,  that  the  once  strong  hand  was  losing  its  firmness.  His 
sons  had  for  years  been  causing  their  father  and  their  country 
much  trouble  and  some  loss.  As  we  have  seen,  in  1189 
Maelgwn  had  to  be  imprisoned.  In  1193  we  find  Maelgwn 
(who  had  escaped  from  prison  in  1192),  together  with  his 
brother  Howel  Sais,  demolishing  the  castle  of  I/lannhadein, 
which  their  father  had  taken  the  year  before.  It  began 
to  appear  as  though  Rhys'  power  in  the  south  was 
breaking  up.  A  feud  was  already  beginning  among  his 
sons.1 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1194  that  the  sons  began  to  get 
the  upper  hand.  In  that  year  Rhys  was  imprisoned  by 
them  in  Nevern  Castle.  In  the  intervening  years,  it  is  true, 
he  had  won  some  more  victories  against  his  foreign  enemies, 
and  in  1189,  when  he  journeyed  to  Oxford  to  pay  homage  to 
Richard  I,  he  retained  sufficient  of  his  old  courage  and  spirit 
to  return  to  his  country  furious  with  rage  and  without  having 
acknowledged  his  overlord,  because  Richard  had  failed  to 
make  a  special  journey  to  Oxford  to  meet  him. 

The  imprisonment  of  1194  seems  to  have  destroyed  his 
prestige  for  the  moment.  Though  liberated  by  his  son  Howel 
Sais,  he  found  himself  in  the  year  following  the  object  of  a 
plot  to  depose  him  in  favour  of  his  sons  Maredudd  and  Rhys. 
This  he  suppressed  by  the  imprisonment  of  the  pretenders, 
and  in  1196  embarked  once  more  on  a  short  but  victorious 
campaign  of  destruction.  Caermarthen  was  destroyed,  Colwyn 
Castle  captured  and  burnt ;  Radnor  town  was  ravaged  and 
destroyed  by  fire  ;  Roger  Mortimer  was  defeated  in  a  pitched 
battle ;  and  Pain's  Castle,  in  Elfael,  was  taken.  This  was  the 
last  outburst  of  a  brave  and  fiery  spirit  who  for  more  than 
half  a  century  had  led  the  men  of  the  south  against  the 
enemies  of  his  country.  He  died  in  1197,  while  still  under 
sentence  of  excommunication  for  insults  inflicted  by  his  sons 
upon  Peter  de  I^eia — an  ill  end  for  the  bountiful  benefactor 

1  The  Brut  y  Tywysogion  under  (corrected)  date  1193  states  that  toward 
the  end  of  that  year  a  certain  Anarawd  ap  Rhys  seized  Madog  and  Howel, 
his  brothers,  and  blinded  them.  This  is  quite  a  different  family  from  that 
of  the  L,ord  Rhys. 

286 


PLATE  XIJ.     THE  GATEWAY,  STRATA  FLORIDA  ABBEY 
Photo  Culliford,  Aberyslwyth 


286 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

of  Strata  Florida,  for  the  liberal  donor  of  gifts  to  Wkitland  and 
Talley  Abbeys.  At  length,  however,  the  last  sacred  words 
were  said  over  his  body,  over  that  unheeding  corpse  which 
had  been  scourged  to  purge  the  soul  of  the  offences  of  others. 

GWENWYNWYN    AND  lyLYWELYN 

We  must  now  turn  once  more  to  a  consideration  of  affairs 
in  the  north  and  east.  In  the  north  I^lywelyn  ap  lorwerth, 
called  in  later  time  lylywelyn  the  Great,  was  a  very  young 
man  slowly  rising  to  power,  laboriously  engaged  in  uniting  his 
disrupted  country  and  in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  the 
equally  ambitious,  but  less  able,  Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys. 

This  Gwenwynwyn,  though  destined  never  to  attain  real 
greatness,  had  in  him  many  of  the  qualities  which  had  dis- 
tinguished Rhys  in  his  earlier  years.  Brave  and  passionate, 
he  was  an  admirable  leader  of  revolt,  and  on  the  death  of 
Rhys  the  leadership  of  the  Welsh  seems  to  have  passed  to 
this  chieftain  of  South  Powys  rather  than  to  Llywelyn. 

In  1195  Owain  Cyfeiliog,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken, 
weary  of  the  burdens  of  government,  had  entered  a  monas- 
tery, as  so  many  nobles  did  in  those  days.  His  retirement 
opened  the  way  for  his  successor,  Gwenwynwyn.  Almost  at 
once  Owain's  pacific  policy  was  abandoned.  Attacks  were 
made  on  the  border  counties.  So  serious  was  the  position 
that  Hubert  Walter,  now  Justiciar,  thought  it  necessary  to 
lead  an  army  in  person  against  the  men  of  Powys.  Gwen- 
wynwyn's  castle  of  Trallwng,  or  Pool,  was  attacked  and 
undermined.  The  priestly  soldier  was,  however,  chivalrous 
He  allowed  the  garrison  to  go  freely,  a  clemency  which  was 
repaid  in  the  following  year,  when  Gwenwynwyn  recovered 
possession  of  his  own  and  was  equally  magnanimous  to  his 
foe. 

The  Prince  of  South  Powys  now  turned  his  attention  to  his 
own  Welsh  neighbours.  At  first  Arwystli  was  the  object  of 
attack.  This  cantref,  after  an  unimportant  campaign,  fell 
into  his  hands  about  1197.  Next  Deheubarth  claimed  his 
attention.  The  I<ord  Rhys  was  now  dead,  and  his  sons 

287 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Gruffydd  and  Maelgwn  (now  an  exile)  were  disputing  as  to 
the  right  of  succession.  Gwenwynwyn  took  the  side  of  the 
exiled  claimant.  Aberystwyth  town  and  castle  were  attacked 
and  seized.  Ceredigion  was  taken,  with  all  its  castles,  and 
Gruffydd  himself  was  captured  and  flung  into  Corfe  Castle.  In 
the  year  following  the  tables  were  turned.  After  some  pre- 
liminary reverses,  in  which  Maelgwn  captured  the  castles  of 
Aberteifi  and  Ystrad  Meurig,  Gruffydd  succeeded  in  completely 
shattering,  for  the  time  being,  his  brother's  hopes  of  leadership. 
We  have  seen  that  Gruffydd  had  been  imprisoned.  The  change 
of  fortune  came  about  as  follows.  After  the  debacle  of  1197 
Gwenwynwyn  had  apparently  banished  Gruffydd  to  England 
or  imprisoned  him  in  England.  In  the  following  year 
Gwenwynwyn,  "  endeavouring  the  restoration  of  their  ancient 
rights  to  the  Welsh,  their  original  property  and  their  boun- 
daries," collected  a  considerable  force  and  attempted  the 
reduction  of  Pain's  Castle.  Unequipped  as  he  was  with  the 
necessary  engines  of  war,  he  made  little  headway.  This  lack 
of  success  coming  to  the  ears  of  Gruffydd  prompted  him  to 
offer  to  lead  his  English  gaolers  to  the  relief  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen.  The  offer  was  accepted.  Gruffydd  at  the  head 
of  a  considerable  force  of  English  soldiers  attacked  the  besieg- 
ing army  and  defeated  it  with  considerable  loss.  Having 
regained  his  liberty,  and  elated  by  this  first  success,  Gruffydd 
lost  little  time  in  wresting  from  Maelgwn  all  the  gains  of  the 
previous  campaigns,  except  the  castles  of  Aberteifi  and  Ystrad 
Meurig.  As  to  the  former  important  castle,  the  Brut  tells 
us  that  "  Maelgwn  swore  upon  several  relics,  in  the  presence 
of  monks,  after  taking  hostages  for  peace  from  Gruffydd,  that 
he  would  deliver  up  the  castle  and  hostages  together  to 
Gruffydd  on  a  fixed  day.  And  that  oath  he  disregarded, 
giving  up  neither  the  castle  nor  the  hostages ;  divine  power, 
nevertheless,  set  the  hostages  free  from  the  prison  of  Gwen- 
wynwyn." The  climax  came  in  1200,  two  years  afterward, 
when,  as  the  chronicler  tells  us,  "  Maelgwn,  son  of  Rhys,  sold 
Aberteifi,  the  key  of  all  Wales,  for  a  trifling  value,  to  the 
English,  for  fear  of  and  out  of  hatred  of  his  brother  Gruffydd." 
288 


THE    LORD    RHYS 

In  the  next  year  death  removed  Gruffydd  from  the  scene, 
On  his  death  in  1201  his  title  to  leadership  passed  to  his  sons 
(Rhys  and  Owain) ,  who,  in  consequence,  are  found  in  opposition 
to  Maelgwn  for  many  years. 

We  must  now  leave  this  unhappy  house  of  Deheubarth  still 
embroiled  in  the  squabble  for  power.  Gwenwynwyn,  too,  is 
no  longer  a  force  worthy  of  detailed  consideration.  It  is  not 
until  we  come  to  speak  of  I4ywelyn  the  Great  that  we 
can  treat  of  a  man  and  a  movement  that  once  again  welded 
Wales  into  a  nation  and  gave  to  its  people  once  more  their 
beloved  liberty. 


289 


CHAPTER  XVII 

GEOFFREY,  WALTER,  &  GERALD 

IN  this  chapter  we  shall  consider  three  men  eminent  in 
the  realms  of  literature  who,  while  being  purely  or 
partly  of  Welsh  birth,  made  their  influence  felt  through- 
out Europe,  and  who,  brought  up  as  they  were  in  Wales,  have 
left  us  a  fairly  complete  picture  of  that  country  in  the  twelfth 
century .  We  shall  thus  not  merely  have  to  consider  the  men,  but 
also  the  matter  of  which  they  wrote,  and  in  so  considering  shall 
have  something  to  say  of  the  life  and  manners  of  mediaeval  Wales. 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  Walter  Map,  and  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis  were  all  very  remarkable  men.  Extremely  learned  for 
their  age,  they  add  a  sprightliness  and,  especially  in  the  case 
of  the  last  two,  a  wit  and  wide  knowledge  of  men  which  have 
made  their  writings  live  on  right  to  the  present  day.  The 
busy  man  to-day  can  pick  up  his  Giraldus  and  laugh  with  him 
over  the  curious  events  recorded  in  the  Itinerary,  he  can  follow 
Geoffrey  with  pleasure  through  his  pseudo-history  of  the 
Britons,  he  can  enjoy  Map,  whether  he  be  telling  us  of  legends 
connected  with  the  name  of  Arthur  or  of  the  prophecies  of 
Merlin  or  his  Goliardic  stories  or  his  opinions  of  the  Cistercians. 
They  were,  indeed,  singularly  similar  types.  Though  clerics 
and  learned  men,  they  never  permitted  their  learning  to  make 
them  dull.  They  had  a  ready  ear  for  a  story  or  a  legend,  and 
a  quick  wit.  They  were  voluminous  writers,  and  there  is 
hardly  a  line  they  wrote  that  is  not  well  worth  reading. 

GEOFFREY  OF  MONMOUTH 

This  son  of  Arthur,  private  priest  to  William,  Earl  of 
Gloucester,  was  the  earliest  of  the  triumvirate.  Born  about 
290 


GEOFFREY,   WALTER,   &   GERALD 

iioo,  he  was  brought  up  in  the  Welsh  manner  as  the  foster-son 
of  Uchtryd,  his  paternal  uncle,  then  Archdeacon,  and  afterward 
Bishop,  of  I/landaff.  Educated  at  Oxford,  he  early  became  a 
friend  of  Walter  of  Wallingford,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  who 
suggested  to  him  the  compilation  of  a  history  of  the  Britons. 
According  to  Geoffrey,  this  Walter  had  already  become 
possessed  of  a  "  very  ancient  British  book,"  x  which  he  had 
brought  over  from  Brittany,  and  it  was  this  book  which 
Geoffrey  drew  upon  for  material  for  his  Historia  Regum 
Britanniae.  While  yet  engaged  in  the  production  of  his 
history  he  found  time  to  make  a  Latin  translation  of  the 
prophecies  of  Merlin  from  the  Welsh — a  work  which  was  after- 
ward incorporated  into  his  history.  The  great  work  was 
eventually  completed  not  later  than  1139,  for  in  that  year  it 
was  read  by  Henry  of  Huntingdon  in  the  Abbey  of  Bee  in 
Normandy,  and  it  has  been  stated  by  a  competent  authority 
that  it  was  finished  by  1135.  The  Historia  is  an  account  of 
the  British  nation  from  the  fall  of  Troy  onward.  Geoffrey 
seems  never  to  have  permitted  his  imagination  to  receive 
the  slightest  check,  and  from  beginning  to  end,  as  a  history, 
it  is  completely  untrustworthy.  Even  in  his  own  century  it 
was  perceived  by  the  discerning  that  it  was  far  from  being  a 
truthful  story.  William  of  Newbury  was  particularly  scathing, 
for  among  other  rude  things  we  find  him  saying :  "  In  that 
book  of  his  which  he  calls  his  British  History  how  childishly 
and  impudently  he  lies  throughout  no  one,  unless  ignorant 
of  the  ancient  histories,  is  left  in  any  doubt."  Giraldus 
summed  up  its  value  in  his  own  manner  by  a  story  concerned 
with  evil  spirits.  It  appears  that,  according  to  him,  a  certain 
man  had  the  power  of  seeing  evil  spirits.  These  spirits  loved 
lies  and  hated  truth ;  consequently,  by  observing  from  what 
books  they  fled  he  was  able  to  judge  the  truth  of  the  written 
word.  "  Once,"  we  are  told,  "  when  he  was  much  tormented 
by  the  evil  spirits,  he  placed  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  in  his 
bosom,  when  they  immediately  vanished  from  his  sight  like 

1  Thomas  Wright  suggested  that  it  could  not  have  been  more  than  two 
hundred  years  old  at  the  time. 

291 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

birds  ;  afterward  he  laid  the  Gospel  aside,  and  for  the  sake  of 
experiment  took  the  History  of  the  Britons,  by  Galfridus 
Arthurus,  in  its  place,  when  they  returned  and  covered  not 
only  his  body,  but  the  book  in  his  bosom,  far  more  quickly 
and  more  troublesome  than  usual."  Giraldus'  judgment  was 
right,  even  as  his  mode  of  expressing  it  was  witty. 

But  notwithstanding  its  complete  untrustworthiness,  Geof- 
frey's work  instantly  gained  a  wide  popularity.  The  writer 
had  succeeded  in  casting  a  glamour  of  romance  over  the 
early  history  of  his  country,  and  out  of  the  storehouse  of  his 
imagination  had  created  kings  and  courts,  heroes  and  victories. 
It  rapidly  spread  to  the  Continent.  Copy  after  copy  was 
made,1  and  in  time  its  contents  were  accepted  as  true  by 
historians  of  repute.  Geoffrey's  statements  are  followed  by 
Holinshed,  and  through  him  by  Shakespeare,  who  got  his 
account  of  King  I^ear  from  this  authority.2 

In  England  many  translations,  adaptations,  and  modifica- 
tions of  the  historio-romance  early  appeared,  those  known 
as  the  Brut  Tysilio,  the  Brut  y  Brenhinoedd,  and  the  Brut 
Gruffydd  ab  Arthur  being  the  most  famous.  Of  its  effect  on 
mediaeval  romantic  literature  through  its  creation,  or  at  least 
development,  of  the  character  of  Arthur  we  have  already 
spoken  in  a  previous  chapter.  It  is  perhaps  because  of  the 
eager  seizure  upon  his  materials  by  the  poets  and  troubadours 
that  Geoffrey  gained  his  place  as  the  leader  in  a  wonderful 
literary  movement,  but  the  work  itself,  had  it  not  been 
called  a  history,  would  have  ranked  high  as  a  product  of 
the  imagination. 

Apart  from  his  writings,  Geoffrey  cut  a  respectable  but  not 
an  imposing  figure  upon  the  stage  of  history.  He  was  deemed 
learned  by  his  contemporaries,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  uncle 
was  successful  in  obtaining  preferment.  According  to  H.  R. 
Tedder,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  in  1152,  and 

1  An  interesting  copy  dedicated  to  King  Stephen  instead  of  to  Robert, 
Earl  of  Gloucester,  appeared  in  the  catalogue  of  Berne  Library,  Switzerland, 
in  1770.     For  an  account  of  this  see  Arch&ological  Journal,  vol.  xv,  p.  299. 

2  His  work  was  largely  used  by  other  Elizabethan  dramatists.     Such  plays 
as  The  True  Trojans,  by  Fisher,  and  The  Mayor  of  Quinborough,  by  Middleton, 
are  mainly  based  on  Geoffrey's  History. 

292 


PI,ATE  XLJI.   GEOFFREY'S  WINDOW,  MONMOUTH 
Photo  Frith 


292 


GEOFFREY,   WALTER,   &   GERALD 

this  statement  is  generally  accepted,  though  Robert  Williams 
had  previously  pointed  out  that  the  Geoffrey  thus  appointed 
was  another  Geoffrey  or  Godfrey  ap  Arthur,  who  was  made 
Abbot  of  Abingdon  in  1165,  which  office  he  held  in  commendam 
with  his  bishopric  until  July  n,  1175,  whereas  '  Golfrai  ab 
Arthur,'  the  real  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  died  in  1152. x  It  is 
admitted  on  all  sides  that  Geoffrey  died  in  1154  or  1155,  after  he 
had  been  elected  Bishop  of  I^landaff,  but  before  he  had  entered 
upon  his  office.  The  Brut  tells  us  that  he  died  at  Mass. 

WALTER  MAP 

The  second  of  the  three  worthies  was  born  about  1140.  He 
describes  himself  in  De  Nugis  as  a  "  marcher  of  Wales,"  and 
refers  to  the  Welsh  as  fellow-countrymen.  His  name  is  also 
Celtic  in  form.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  he  was  not  of 
pure  Welsh  blood,  and  many  of  his  references  to  Wales  are  so 
aloof  that  it  would  appear  that  a  foreign  training  and  long 
residence  in  England  and  in  France  had  made  him  look  upon 
the  Welsh  as  strangers.  He  was  probably  born  in  Hereford- 
shire, though  a  claim  has  been  put  forward  by  Dr.  Henry 
Owen  on  behalf  of  Pembrokeshire.2  His  parents  appear  to 
have  been  persons  of  position,  high  in  favour  with  Henry  II. 
After  the  young  Map  had  received  an  excellent  education  in 
Paris  he  returned  to  England  in  1162,  and  became  attached 
to  the  king's  court,  holding  a  position  as  clerk  of  the  king's 
household. 

He  seems  early  to  have  been  regarded  as  a  man  of  wit  and 
discretion,  and  was  sent  on  several  diplomatic  missions,  later 
(c.  1173)  being  made  a  justice  itinerant.  Even  at  this  time  he 
was  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  Cistercians,  and  when  he  took 
the  oath  to  administer  justice  to  all  men  he  was  careful 
expressly  to  except  Jews  and  Cistercian  monks  !  3  I^ater  in 
life  he  obtained  considerable  ecclesiastical  preferment,  holding 
the  offices  of  Vicar  of  Westbury,  Precentor  of  lyincoln,  and 

1  This  should  be  1155.   The  Brut  gives  the  date  as  1154,  and  is  a  year  behind. 
a  Gloucestershire  has  also  been  mentioned  as  his  native  county. 
3  This  is  related  by  Giraldus,  who  never  tested  a  story  very  carefully 
with  the  touchstone  of  truth. 

293 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Canon  of  St.  Paul's  (1176).  In  1197  he  was  made  Archdeacon 
of  Oxford,  and  in  1199  and  1203  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate 
for  the  sees  of  Hereford  and  St.  David's  respectively.  He 
died  some  time  before  1210. 

Throughout  his  life  he  seems  to  have  taken  an  interest  in 
Welsh  folk-lore  and  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Welsh 
people.  He  it  is  who,  in  conjunction  with  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
mouth,  was  responsible  in  no  small  degree  for  the  development 
of  the  Arthurian  legend.  Indeed,  according  to  Professor 
Saintsbury,  Map  is  responsible  even  to  a  greater  degree  than 
Chretien  de  Troyes  for  the  perfecting  of  the  Arthur  stories. 
In  his  De  Nugis  he  devotes  much  space  to  an  account  of  Welsh 
characteristics.  In  his  Second  Distinction  he  impresses  upon 
the  reader  the  generosity  and  hospitality  of  these  people, 
illustrating  his  statement  by  a  story  of  a  Welshman  who 
killed  his  wife  because  she  had  driven  a  stranger  from  the 
shelter  of  their  house  into  a  blinding  snowstorm  by  suggesting 
that  his  presence  was  unwanted.  He,  like  Giraldus,  speaks 
of  the  '  perfidy '  of  the  Welsh  and  of  their  readiness  to  break 
the  most  solemn  oath.  He,  like  Giraldus,  treats  of  this 
people  as  a  hardy  and  passionate  race,  trained  up  from 
childhood  for  war  and  ever  ready  to  repay  an  insult  with  an 
arrow.  The  following  story  which  he  tells  in  De  Nugis 
expresses  neatly  his  view  of  the  Welsh  temperament.  Map 
had  already  stated  that  the  Welsh  were  "  prodigal  of  life, 
covetous  of  liberty,  careless  of  peace,  warlike  and  cunning  in 
arms,  quick  to  revenge,  very  generous  of  everything,  each 
most  sparing  of  food  for  himself  but  bountiful  of  meat  to 
another,  so  that  each  one's  food  is  anybody's."  He  con- 
tinues :  "To  show  how  full  of  rash  and  fatuous  fury  are  the 
fits  of  the  Welsh,  a  youth  of  a  town  called  Hay  went  out  to 
cross  the  river  Coye  :  he  was  carrying  a  bow  with  two  arrows, 
and  happening  to  meet  two  of  his  enemies  he  took  to  flight. 
As  he  fled  one  of  them  followed  so  close  that  he  seemed  like 
to  catch  him.  But  the  youth  shot  him  with  one  of  his  arrows 
in  the  middle  of  his  breast.  The  stricken  man  said  to  his 
comrade  :  '  Follow  him,  for  I  am  dying,  and  bring  me  back  my 
294 


GEOFFREY,   WALTER,   &   GERALD 

life  from  him.'  The  other  then  pursued  the  youth  toward 
the  next  town  as  far  as  he  could,  and  then  returned  to  his 
comrade.  But  as  he  made  his  way  back,  he  in  his  turn  was 
followed  at  a  distance  by  the  youth,  who  wanted  to  know  the 
end  of  his  fellow.  The  youth  then  saw  that  when  the  man 
who  was  unhurt  came  to  his  wounded  comrade,  lying  in  a 
thicket,  the  latter  asked  him  whether  he  had  brought  him 
back  his  life  from  the  youth.  When  he  replied  that  he  had 
not,  '  Come  here,'  said  the  wounded  man,  '  to  take  from  me  a 
kiss  for  my  wife  and  children,  for  I  am  on  the  point  of  death/ 
While  the  unwounded  man  was  in  the  act  of  kissing  his  sick 
comrade,  the  latter,  as  he  lay  beneath  him,  stabbed  him  to 
the  heart  with  a  knife,  saying, '  I/>se  thy  life,  thou  who  through 
thy  cowardice  hast  failed  to  bring  back  mine  ! '  But  the  man 
who  was  on  top  cut  him,  in  the  same  way,  with  a  knife  to  the 
heart,  saying,  '  No  boast  shalt  thou  make  of  my  death,  and 
my  only  misfortune  is  that  the  wounds  thou  hast  given  me 
compel  me  to  die  before  I  have  passed  on  such  kisses  to  thy 
wife  and  children  ! ' 

Map's  precise  place  in  literary  history  is  a  somewhat  difficult 
one  to  fix.  Besides  his  De  Nugis  he  is,  of  course,  famous  for 
his  work  on  the  Arthurian  legend.  He  is  also  accredited  with 
a  large  share  of  what  is  known  as  the  Goliardic  literature.  It 
is  scarcely  believable,  however,  that  the  man  who  could  even 
be  tentatively  accredited  with  The  Quest  of  Lancelot  should 
have  penned  the  doubtful  ditties  common  to  the  Goliards. 

According  to  Thomas  Wright,  "  The  Goliardi,  in  the  original 
sense  of  the  word,  appear  to  have  been  in  the  clerical  order 
somewhat  the  same  class  as  the  jongleurs  and  minstrels  among 
the  laity,  riotous  and  unthrifty  scholars  who  attended  on  the 
tables  of  the  richer  ecclesiastics,  and  gained  their  living  and 
clothing  by  practising  the  profession  of  buffoons  and  jesters." 
The  term  is  a  comparatively  ancient  one,  and  was  certainly 
current  as  early  as  923.  The  nature  of  their  lays  may  be 
judged  from  Chaucer's  lines  : 


He  was  a  j  angler,  and  a  goliardeis, 

And  that  was  most  of  sinue  and  harlotries. 


295 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Map  certainly  obtained  the  reputation  in  the  latter  Middle 
Ages  of  being  the  author  of  Golias  and  other  Goliardic  verses, 
e.g.  the  well-known  students'  song  which  commences  : 

Meum  est  propositum  in  tdberna  tnori.1 

Some  have  even  given  him  the  credit  of  being  a  Rabelais  who 
attacked  the  monks  under  cover  of  a  licentious  pen.  With 
the  reputation  of  a  Goliard  came  that  of  being  a  bibulous 
cleric,  or,  as  Thomas  Wright  elegantly  phrases  it,  "a  jovial 
toper."  2  According  to  his  friend  Giraldus,  Map  was  a  friend 
of  Henry  II,  because  the  king  admired  him  for  his  learning 
and  courtliness ;  he  was  an  acknowledged  wit,  a  litterateur , 
and  his  taste  in  letters  was  excellent.  As  to  the  authorship 
of  Golias,  that  work  was  undoubtedly  produced  in  Map's  life- 
time ;  but  though  it  was  well  known  to  Giraldus — who  tells 
us  that  he  was  much  shocked  at  its  levity  and  licentiousness — 
he  evidently  had  no  notion  that  Map  was  the  author,  and  it  is 
highly  probable  that  many  of  these  rhymes  are  the  produc- 
tions of  other  pens,  though  it  is  also  probable  that  Map  was 
responsible  for  such  verses  as  The  Cambriae  Epitome,  which 
was  a  precis  in  rhyme  of  Giraldus'  work. 

GIRALDUS  CAMBRENSIS  3 

Giraldus  de  Barri,  called  by  his  enemies  Sylvester,  or  '  the 
Savage/  came  of  a  right  noble  race.  His  father,  William  de 
Barri,  was  a  prominent  Norman  noble  in  favour  with  the 
English  court.  His  mother,  Angharad,  was  a  daughter  of 
that  Nest,  wife  to  Gerald  of  Windsor,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  abducted  by  Owain,  and  whose  beauty  and  amours  earned 
for  her  the  title  of  '  the  Helen  of  Wales/ 

Born  about  1147  a*  Manorbier,  he  was  the  eye-witness  of 
many  a  sudden  raid  and  fierce  attack  by  the  Welsh  on  the 
Normans  and  Flemings.  As  a  boy  he  was  much  like  other 

1  "  I  desire  to  expire  in  a  tavern  drinking." 

2  Wright  repudiates  the  suggestion  that  Map  was  bibulous. 

3  We  have  made  much  use  in  what  follows  of  Dr.  Henry  Owen's  excellent 
biography  Gerald  the  Welshman  ',   also  the  Introduction  to  Giraldus'  works 
in  the  Rolls  Series. 

296 


GEOFFREY,  WALTER,  &  GERALD 
boys,  and  preferred  to  practise  archery  rather  than  learn 
Ivatin.  He  seems,  however,  early  to  have  shown  considerable 
capacity  and  desire  for  learning,  and  we  have  preserved  to  us 
a  number  of  I,atin  poems  composed  by  him  while  yet  a  youth 
which,  though  not  marvellous,  are,  on  the  other  hand,  by  no 
means  contemptible.  Much  of  the  polish  which  he  later 
exhibited  in  his  writings  was  doubtless  due  to  his  studies  at 
Paris,  where,  according  to  his  own  statement,  he  was  always 
pointed  to  as  the  really  model  scholar. 

It  was  in  1172  that  he  returned  from  Paris  to  England,  and 
immediately  began  to  occupy  a  respectable  position  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Church.  His  uncle  was  Bishop  of  St.  David's, 
and  with  his  aid  the  brilliant  young  scholar  soon  obtained 
preferment.  He  successively  held  the  livings  of  I4anwnda, 
Tenby,  and  Angle  in  Pembrokeshire,  and  Chesterton  in  Oxford- 
shire. He  was  also  made  Prebendary  of  Hereford  and  Canon 
of  St.  David's. 

In  1175  he  became  Archdeacon  of  Brecknock,  in  place  of 
Archdeacon  Jordan,  who  had  married  a  wife  and,  in  his  old 
age,  refused  to  repudiate  her.  As  Dr.  Owen  puts  it,  "  He 
kept  his  wife,  but  he  lost  his  archdeaconry." 

Gerald  was,  indeed,  at  this  time  a  stern  reformer.  Having 
cleansed  Jordan's  stables,  he  turned  his  attention  to  tithes. 
His  energy  brought  him  into  contact  with  William  Karquit, 
a  Fleming,  and  sheriff  of  Pembrokeshire.  Karquit,  despising 
the  young  cleric,  insulted  Gerald  by  seizing  eight  yoke  of  oxen 
from  Pembroke  Priory.  Gerald  replied  with  bell,  book,  and 
candle.  In  Brewer's  descriptive  words,  "  The  doleful  clanging 
of  bells  announced  to  all  the  surrounding  country  that  William 
Karquit,  High  Sheriff  of  Pembroke,  was  deleted  from  the 
muster-roll  of  the  saints.  Henceforth,  whatever  he  might  be 
in  the  transitory  honours  of  the  world,  he  was  but  a  dead  dog 
in  the  estimation  of  the  faithful."  Karquit  submitted. 

Gerald's  next  fight  of  importance  was  over  the  new  church 
of  St.  Michael  at  Kerry.  This  church  was  claimed  both  by 
St.  Asaph  and  St.  David's,  and  while  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph 
was  engaged  in  consecrating  it  Gerald's  party  arrived,  with 

297 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  irrepressible  one  at  their  head,  intent  on  claiming  it  for 
St.  David's.  History  has  few  more  amusing  pictures  than  the 
scene  which  followed.  After  a  furious  dispute  Gerald  brought 
out  the  bell,  book,  and  candle,  excommunicated  the  bishop, 
drove  off  the  St.  Asaph  party  by  such  a  hideous  clanging  of 
bells  that  the  sensitive  Welsh  ears  could  not  tolerate  it,  and 
finally,  deeming  honour  satisfied,  sent  his  very  good  friend  the 
bishop  some  "  very  excellent  drink."  The  bishop  was  received 
back  into  the  fold. 

It  was  in  the  next  year  (1176)  that  the  first  step  in  Gerald's 
famous  fight  for  St.  David's  was  taken.  Henry  doubtless 
admired  Gerald,  but  he  also  desired  to  have  some  control  of 
the  affairs  of  South  Wales.  The  Lord  Rhys  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  already  well-nigh  independent  of  the  king,  and  was  the 
admitted  head  of  the  civil  life  of  the  south.  Had  such  an 
independent  spirit  as  Gerald  been  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  ecclesiastical  life  of  South  Wales,  English  influence 
would  have  been  eliminated.  Consequently,  when  Gerald 
was  chosen  in  that  year  Bishop  of  St.  David's  Henry 
avoided  the  election  and  commanded  that  Peter  de  I^eia  be 
chosen  instead.  It  was  as  the  king  wished,  and  Gerald  retired 
for  the  next  four  years  to  Paris,  where  he  studied  theology 
and  Canon  law. 

On  his  return  he  was  at  once  employed  by  Henry  upon 
administrative  work  in  Wales,  with  such  successful  results  that 
he  was  rewarded  by  being  made  chaplain  to  the  king  in  1184. 
In  the  year  following  he  accompanied  Prince  John  to  Ireland, 
where  he  acquired  his  material  for  the  Topography  and  Conquest 
of  Ireland.  Shortly  after  his  return  he  accompanied  his  old 
friend  Archbishop  Baldwin  on  the  tour  through  Wales,  mainly 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  raising  recruits  for  the  Crusades. 
Gerald  seems  to  have  met  with  much  success  in  his  efforts  to 
get  men  to  be  marked  with  the  cross.  As  he,  in  his  usual 
complacent  manner,  informs  us,  after  Archbishop  Baldwin 
had  completely  failed  to  move  his  audience  he,  Gerald,  quickly 
moved  them  to  tears,  and  it  was  only  because  he  did  not 
speak  in  Welsh  that  there  were  any  men  left  unmarked  with 
298 


a* 


GEOFFREY,   WALTER,   &   GERALD 

the  sign  of  the  crusader.     One  great  result  of  this  tour  was 
his  Itinerary  and  his  Description  of  Wales. 

On  the  death  of  Henry,  Gerald  remained  in  high  favour 
with  both  Richard  and  John.  He  declined  the  bishoprics  of 
Bangor  and  I4andaff,  choosing  to  wait  until  St.  David's  was 
once  more  free  for  his  acceptance.  In  1194,  tiring,  apparently, 
of  the  ordinary  delights  and  duties  of  the  court,  he  retired  to 
lyincoln  to  study,  and  joined  the  theological  school  of  William 
de  Monte. 

It  was  in  1198  that  the  see  of  St.  David's  became  vacant 
once  again.  The  chapter  nominated  Gerald,  among  others, 
and  a  deputation  was  sent  to  consult  the  king  and  obtain  his 
consent.  Richard  was  then  in  Normandy,  but  before  the 
deputation  arrived  he  was  dead.  John,  however,  accepted 
Gerald's  nomination.  In  his  usual  faithless  manner,  as  soon 
as  he  found  that  the  appointment  was  inconvenient  he  refused 
to  acknowledge  and  ratify  publicly  the  consent  thus  informally 
given.  Gerald  was,  however,  elected  by  the  chapter  of  St. 
David's,  an  election  which  was  treated  as  void  by  Canterbury. 

Hence  commenced  the  famous  fight  for  the  independence  of 
St.  David's.  Three  times  Gerald  braved  all  the  hardships 
and  bore  the  expense  of  a  journey  to  Rome.  He  used  every 
weapon  in  his  armoury.  He  amused  the  Pope  with  his  wit, 
delighted  him  with  his  learning,  won  his  admiration  by 
his  steadfast  resolution  to  fight  on  against  odds  however 
great.  He  suffered  outlawry,  and  replied  by  publicly  excom- 
municating all  his  enemies.  At  his  third  visit  to  Rome  (in 
1203)  he  obtained  considerable  aid  from  the  Pope.  The 
elections  which  the  chapter  had  made  were  annulled,  and  they 
were  commanded  to  commence  de  novo.  The  archbishop  was 
also  ordered  to  pay  Gerald's  costs.  Gerald  left  Rome,  how- 
ever, financially  ruined,  and  would  have  been  imprisoned  by 
his  creditors  (who  had  followed  him  to  Bologna)  had  not  one 
of  them  declared  that  he  had  been  warned  by  a  vision  not  to 
molest  the  holy  man. 

Even  now  Gerald  would  not  submit.     The  new  election  was 
held  and  appeared  adverse  to  him.     He  arrived  in  time  to 

299 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

denounce  his  enemies  and  upset  the  nomination.  So  the 
struggle  continued,  until  at  last  Gerald,  deserted  by  all,  per- 
mitted— f  or  it  can  hardly  be  otherwise  expressed — the  election 
of  the  Prior  of  Llanthony. 

The  struggle  for  St.  David's  had  lasted  for  five  years.  To 
it  Gerald  devoted  the  best  of  his  energies,  and,  once  ended, 
Gerald's  public  life  ended  also.  For  the  twenty  years  which 
elapsed  between  the  election  of  Prior  Geoffrey  and  Gerald's 
death  he  lived  the  life  of  a  studious  and  holy  man.  Having 
made  his  peace  with  his  king  and  the  archbishop,  he  repaired 
once  more  to  Rome,  this  time  for  the  benefit  of  his  soul.  So 
many  were  his  pious  exertions  that  he  obtained,  as  Dr.  Owen 
puts  it,  "  indulgence  for  ninety-two  years,  which  would  seem 
to  have  left  him  with  a  balance  in  hand."  x  Gerald  himself 
was  convinced  that  he  narrowly  escaped  being  made  a  cardinal. 
Only  once  again  did  his  eyes  turn  to  St.  David's.  On  the 
death  of  Prior  Geoffrey,  then  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  Gerald 
had  hoped  that  his  claims  would  at  last  be  recognized,  but  an 
ungrateful  chapter  chose  instead  lorwerth,  Abbot  of  Talley 
Abbey. 

Gerald's  last  days  were  spent  peacefully  in  Wales,  perhaps 
at  Manorbier.  His  death  took  place  in  1223.  He  was  buried 
at  St.  David's,  and  no  more  fitting  spot  could  be  found  as  a 
resting-place  for  his  earthly  remains.  Throughout  a  life  in 
which  he  had  experienced  many  of  the  good  things  of  the 
world — position,  reputation,  interesting  and  highly  placed 
friends  (for  he  was  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  great 
men  of  his  time,  including  Stephen  Langton  and  Ranulph  de 
Glanvill) — he  had  fought  one  great  fight  and  met  with  one  great 
disappointment,  and  both  were  connected  with  St.  David's. 

As  a  man  Gerald  is  a  perfectly  enchanting  person.  His 
conceit  is  so  naive  and  so  harmlessly  expressed  that  it  attracts 
rather  than  repels.  He  can  tell  us  of  his  beauty,  his  learning, 
his  eloquence,  his  generosity,  without  disgusting  us.  When 
speaking  of  his  books  he  shows  unbounded  confidence  in  their 
immortality.  He  gave  Innocent  III  six  volumes  of  his  writings 

1  Which,  we  may  add,  he  seems  to  have  placed  on  deposit. 
3OO 


GEOFFREY,    WALTER,   &  GERALD 

when  he  particularly  wanted  to  conciliate  him,  and  could 
think  of  no  better  gift  for  Archbishop  Baldwin  than  a  copy  of 
his  own  work,  the  Topography  of  Ireland.  The  first  preface 
to  the  Itinerary  shows  the  same  complacency.  After  asking, 
"  But  among  so  many  species  of  men,  where  are  to  be  found 
divine  poets  ?  Where  the  noble  assertors  of  morals  ?  Where 
the  masters  of  the  Latin  tongue  ?  Who  in  the  present  times 
displays  lettered  eloquence,  either  in  history  or  poetry  ?  " 
he  makes  it  tolerably  clear  that  Manorbier  had,  in  his  opinion, 
produced  one  such,  for,  addressing  his  dedicatee,  Stephen 
Langton,  he  says :  "To  you,  therefore,  rare,  noble,  and 
illustrious  man,  on  whom  nature  and  art  have  showered  down 
whatever  becomes  your  supereminent  situation,  I  dedicate  my 
works ;  but  if  I  fail  in  this  mode  of  conciliating  your  favour, 
and  if  your  prayers  and  avocations  should  not  allow  you 
sufficient  time  to  read  them,  I  shall  consider  the  honour  of 
letters  as  vanished,  and  in  hope  of  its  revival  I  shall  inscribe 
my  writings  to  posterity." 

Of  his  descriptions  of  the  Welsh  of  his  time  we  have  made 
mention  in  many  parts  of  this  book.  It  is  sufficient  here  to 
state  that  he  admired  that  people  much  more  than  the 
"  Saxon  serfs,"  whom  he  treated  as  being  completely  under 
Norman  domination.  Wales  itself  he  paints  as  a  beautiful 
wild  country  of  noble  rivers,  of  mountains,  moors,  and 
marshes.  Anglesey  he  regarded  as  the  most  fertile  part 
of  the  land,  the  mountains  of  Bryri  as  yielding  the  best 
pasturage,  Meirionydd  as  being  the  rudest  and  most  barren 
district. 

The  people  are  treated  as  essentially  fighters.  Their  whole 
life  seems  to  have  been  a  preparation  for,  or  a  devotion  to, 
war.  He  tells  us  how  a  Welshman  would  deem  it  a  disgrace 
to  die  in  bed,  and  how  even  boys  and  youths  constantly 
practised  such  exercises  and  arts  as  would  fit  them  for  battle. 
Indeed,  war  seemed  to  be  more  important  than  its  cause. 
Sometimes  the  enemy  was  the  Norman,  sometimes  another 
Welsh  tribe.  Sometimes  its  purpose  was  to  resist  aggression, 
frequently  its  aim  was  plunder.  Indeed,  Gerald  regarded  the 

301 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Welsh,  much  as  he  admired  them,  as  great  raiders,  and  as 
men  whose  oath  did  not  bind  them. 

As  to  their  social  arrangements,  it  is  clear  that  in  the 
twelfth  century  the  Welsh  were  an  uncultivated  people. 
They  dined  in  the  rudest  manner  off  large  trenchers  placed 
on  rushes  on  the  floor.  No  table  or  cloth  or  napkin  was 
used,  and  the  diners  ate  in  messes  of  three — this  number 
being  chosen,  according  to  Gerald,  in  honour  of  the  Trinity. 
The  mess  system  of  dining  was,  of  course,  common  also  in 
England  at  that  period,  where,  however,  the  usual  mess 
number  was  two,  or,  in  the  case  of  important  families  or 
functions,  four  (this  practice  still  lives  on  among  barristers, 
who  to-day  when  dining  together  form  messes  of  four). 

We  are  told  by  our  author  that  in  Wales  no  one  ever  begged, 
"  for  the  houses  of  all  are  common  to  all."  The  people  were, 
indeed,  exceedingly  hospitable,  and  when  guests  were  present 
the  host  and  hostess  declined  all  food  until  the  others  were 
satisfied.  Frequently  they  must  have  denied  themselves 
altogether  to  feed  their  friends,  for  Gerald,  though  he  regards 
the  Welsh  as  a  frugal  and  temperate  people,  tells  us  that 
when  dining  at  another's  table  after  being  hungry  for  days  they 
developed  a  wolf -like  hunger  and  both  ate  and  drank  to  excess. 

Of  their  nature  Gerald  paints  a  picture  from  which  the 
modern  Welshman  could  in  many  cases  be  recognized.  Quick 
in  repartee,  witty  in  conversation,  they  were  subtle  and 
ingenious  speakers,  bold  in  speech  and  fearless  of  those  whom 
others  would  deem  their  superiors.  They  were  beautiful 
singers,  delighting  in  part-songs,  which  had  "  as  many  different 
parts  as  voices."  They  were  religious  and  superstitious, 
passionate  in  nature,  vindictive  but  not  jealous.  Always 
proud  of  their  birth,  Gerald  tells  us  that  "  even  the  common 
people  retain  their  genealogy,  and  can  not  only  readily  recount 
the  names  of  their  grandfathers  and  great-grandfathers,  but 
even  refer  back  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  generation,  or  beyond 
them."  Their  worst  fault  would  seem  to  have  been  incon- 
stancy. Altogether  a  sufficiently  pleasing  and  truthful 
picture. 
302 


3  o 

P,    -2 


PH 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
LLYWELYN  THE  GREAT 

THE  thirteenth  was  a  tragic  century  for  Wales.  It  saw 
the  rise  of  one  Llywelyn  to  the  position  of  a  virtually 
independent  prince.  It  saw  the  fall  of  another 
Llywelyn  to  the  position  of  a  humble  tenant  of  the  king  of 
England.  It  saw  the  break-up  of  Welsh  independence  and  the 
merging  of  the  Welsh  legal  and  judicial  system  into  that  of 
England.  It  is  extremely  difficult  at  this  period  of  time  to 
say  to  what  causes  the  fall  should  be  attributed.  In  a  sense 
lylywelyn  the  Great  was  responsible  for  the  loss  of  Welsh 
independence,  although  during  his  lifetime  the  light  of  his 
power  was  never  eclipsed.  The  truth  is  that  the  weakness 
of  John,  the  years  of  conflict  between  king,  Pope,  and  barons, 
enabled  Wales  well-nigh  to  free  herself  from  Saxon  bonds. 
This  was  the  work  of  Llywelyn  the  Great — a  work  continued 
with  success  during  the  early,  ineffective  years  of  Henry  III. 

A  very  wise  and  clear-sighted  man  would  have  hesitated  a 
long  while  before  basing  any  extensive  or  definite  plan  of 
campaign  or  aggrandizement  upon  the  temporary  troubles  of 
the  English  royal  house  or  the  momentary  disruption  of  the 
English  polity.  Not  so  Llywelyn.  He  played  his  life  as  though 
Johns  were  always  going  to  rule  in  England — unless,  indeed, 
they  handed  over  the  crown  to  infants  of  weak  mind  like 
Henry  III.  In  other  words,  he  appears  to  have  left  out  of 
account  the  possibility  of  an  Edward  I.  Exactly  the  same 
sort  of  folly  was  indulged  in  by  Henry  V.  He  attempted  to 
conquer  France  by  taking  full  advantage  of  a  temporary 
weakness.  The  weakness  passed,  and  with  it  the  conquest. 
The  same  with  Wales.  But  with  Wales  the  conquest  Llywelyn 

303 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

aimed  at  was  the  rulership  of  the  whole  of  Wales  by  the  house 
of  Gwynedd.  He  accomplished  it,  but  by  his  very  success  he 
placed  his  house  and  his  country  in  a  false  position.  Gwynedd 
and  her  princes  had  little  claim  on  the  men  of  Powys  and 
Deheubarth.  Even  had  Wales  been  truly  united  under  one 
man  it  was  not  strong  enough,  either  in  the  number  of  its 
people  or  the  wealth  of  its  resources,  to  fight  openly  against 
England — now  become  a  power  of  some  importance  in  the 
world.  The  position  of  complete  independence  once  taken 
up,  however,  had  to  be  defended.  It  fell  to  Llywelyn  the 
Second  to  defend  it.  He  refused  to  do  homage  to  Edward  I 
for  his  lands  or  any  of  them.  He  claimed  to  be  Prince  of 
Wales.  Such  a  claim  could  not  be  passed  by  in  silence,  and  had 
I^lywelyn  been  well  advised  he  would  have  seen  that  such  a 
claim  could  not  be  supported  by  force.  The  result  was  the 
loss  of  Welsh  independence  ;  the  castling  of  the  country  from 
end  to  end ;  the  merging  of  Wales  into  England.  But  it  is 
a  loss  which  must  not  be  too  readily  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
second  I4ywelyn.  It  was  the  false  position  taken  up  by 
I/lywelyn  the  Great  during  years  of  weakness  on  the  part  of 
England  which  resulted  in  the  fall. 

LLYWELYN'S  RISE  TO  POWER 

The  opening  years  of  the  thirteenth  century  were  mainly 
occupied,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  struggle  between  Maelgwn 
and  Gruffydd,  the  sons  of  the  I^ord  Rhys,  for  the  lordship  of 
Deheubarth.  Gruffydd  was,  perhaps,  the  rightful  successor, 
but  in  a  country  which  recognized  gavelkind  as  the  usual  mode 
of  succession  it  would  almost  seem  as  though  each  son  had  an 
equal  right.  It  is  clear  that  the  Lord  Rhys  had  marked 
Gruffydd  out  for  succession,  and  he  appears  to  have  been 
regarded  as  the  rightful  heir.  Maelgwn,  however,  was  not 
content  to  allow  his  brother  to  rule  in  peace,  as  we  have  seen. 
The  result  was  a  temporary  weakness  of  the  house  of  Deheu- 
barth, and  enmity  between  one  branch  of  that  house  and 
Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys,  who  had  espoused  Maelgwn's  cause. 

In  the  meantime  I^lywelyn  was  steadily  advancing  his 
304 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

power  in  the  north.  In  1201  he  subdued  the  cantref  of  Lleyn. 
In  1202  he  was  openly  opposing  Gwenwynwyn,  for,  as  the 
chronicler  says,  "though  Gwenwynwyn  was  near  to  him  as 
to  kindred,  he  was  a  foe  to  him  as  to  deeds."  Two  years 
before  the  death  of  I,lywelyn's  cousin  GrufTydd  ap  Conan  had 
probably  resulted  in  an  accession  of  territory  to  Llywelyn — 
had,  indeed,  made  him  master  of  almost  the  whole  of  Gwynedd. 
Lleyn,  as  we  have  seen,  was  added  in  1201,  and  in  1202  he 
was  acknowledged  overlord  by  Howel  ap  Gruffydd,  who  held 
the  lordship  of  Meirionydd. 

Ivlywelyn  was  thus  strong  enough  by  1202  to  feel  entitled 
to  call  upon  the  other  princes  and  chieftains  of  North  Wales 
to  aid  him  in  his  struggle  with  Gwenwynwyn.  Blise  ap 
Madog  alone  refused  and  attempted  the  thankless  task  of 
peacemaker.  For  his  good  offices  he  was  rewarded  by  the  loss 
of  his  territory,  which  lylywelyn  seized,  and  the  grant  of  the 
castle  of  Crogen  as  a  gift  made  "in  charity."  After  thus 
seizing  Penllyn  and  Bala  Castles  from  the  hapless  Elise  peace 
seems  to  have  been  made  with  Gwenwynwyn,  who  was  thus 
left  free  to  aid  Maelgwn  in  his  struggle  for  lylanymddyvri  and 
Dinevor 1  Castles  and  the  rulership  of  the  south. 

JOHN  AND  LLYWELYN 

We  must  now  pass  in  review  the  relationship  which  existed 
between  the  courts  of  John  and  Llywelyn.  On  John's 
accession  in  1199  he  seems  to  have  looked  with  favour  upon 
Ivlywelyn.  Shortly  afterward  a  change  takes  place  and  we 
find  Gwenwynwyn  rather  than  Llywelyn  accepted  as  the  friend 
of  England.  By  1201,  however,  lylywelyn  is  again  regarded 
as  the  prince  with  whom  it  is  most  desirable  to  make  terms, 
and  in  that  year  a  formal  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded 
between  king  and  prince.  lylywelyn  was  recognized  as  the 
rightful  possessor  of  the  lands  he  had  won,  subject  to  the 
recognition  of  John's  overlordship  and  of  "  any  fair  legal  pro- 
ceedings which  might  be  brought  against  him  under  English 
or  Welsh  law."  Three  years  later  Llywelyn  contracted  a 

1  Also  spelt  Dinevwr  or  Dinefwr,  and  Dynevor. 

u  305 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

marriage  with  John's  natural  daughter  Joan.  The  bond  thus 
forged  was  to  prove  of  material  assistance  to  the  Prince  of 
Gwynedd  in  his  later  struggle  with  the  English.  With  his  wife 
he  received  from  John  the  castle  and  manor  of  Ellesmere. 

The  years  which  follow  are  mainly  noteworthy  on  account 
of  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Breose.  In  the  early  part  of  John's 
reign  William  de  Breose  had  been  high  in  favour.  He  had 
been  given  power  to  conquer  and  hold  what  he  could  in  Wales, 
and  had  received  large  grants  of  land  and  castles  in  South 
Wales.  In  1207  the  jealous,  crafty,  and  utterly  dishonourable 
John  tore  up  all  the  grants,  went  back  on  all  his  promises, 
required  William  de  Breose  to  surrender  all  his  lands  and 
handed  them  over  to  Faulkes  de  Breaute.  William  and  his 
sons  resisted.  They  were  driven  over  to  Ireland,  and  later 
brought  back  captive  by  John.  Young  William  and  his 
mother  were  put  to  death,  as  the  chronicler  significantly  tells 
us,  "  unmercifully  "  in  Windsor  Castle.1 

The  fall  of  the  mighty  marcher  house  of  Breose  saw  the  rise 
of  that  of  Herbert,  which  was  now  represented  by  Peter  fitz 
Herbert,  who  received  about  this  time  a  third  part  of  the 
lordship  of  Brecknock.  Gwenwynwyn  seems  to  have  deemed 
the  moment  opportune  for  the  recovery  of  this  district  and 
promptly  attacked  the  new  lord.  John,  however,  supported 
his  favourite.  Gwenwynwyn  was  seized  at  Shrewsbury  and 
imprisoned.  His  liberty  was  subsequently  obtained  by  the 
render  of  twenty  hostages  and  the  surrender  of  all  his  lands  to 
the  custody  of  the  Crown.  I/lywelyn  instantly  took  advantage 
of  the  fall  of  his  rival,  and,  in  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  "  took 
possession  of  all  his  territory,  his  castles,  and  his  courts." 

Ivlywelyn,  now  master  of  North  and  East  Wales,  began  to 
turn  his  eyes  toward  the  south,  and  prepared  to  attack 
Maelgwn,  who  was  still  a  power  in  the  south-west.  Maelgwn, 
fearing  that  I^lywelyn  would  obtain  a  permanent  footing  in 
his  territories  if  he  gained  possession  of  the  castles  therein, 
voluntarily  destroyed  the  castles  of  Ystrad  Meurig  and 
burned  Dineirth  and  Aberystwyth.  Llywelyn,  however,  by 

1  The  form  of  death  was  starvation. 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

no  means  deterred,  took  Aberystwyth  and  repaired  it,  and 
occupied  the  whole  of  Cantref  Penwedig,  giving  the  other 
portion  of  Ceredigion  above  Aeron  to  his  nephews,  the  sons  of 
Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  and  the  opponents  of  Maelgwn. 

It  was  in  the  year  1210  that  John  undertook  his  Irish 
campaign.  I/lywelyn  seems  to  have  taken  advantage  of  the 
king's  absence  to  ravage  the  territory  of  the  Earl  of  Chester, 
who  had  lately  built  castles  at  Deganwy  and  Holywell. 
Throughout  the  preceding  year  (1209)  Llywelyn  appears,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  on  friendly  terms  with  John.  He  probably 
attended  the  council  at  Woodstock  in  October  1209  and  swore 
homage  to  his  overlord.  We  also  know  that  John  and  lylywelyn 
were  exchanging  letters  and  presents  throughout  1209  and  the 
early  part  of  1210.  The  writer  of  the  Brut  is  therefore  probably 
inaccurate  in  assigning  the  recovery  of  Powys  by  Gwenwynwyn 
with  the  aid  of  John  to  the  year  1209.  It  more  probably 
belongs  to  1210. 

It  would  now  seem  that  John  had  reached  the  position  he 
had  been  playing  for  for  some  years.  I,lywelyn  had  been 
lured  on  to  regard  himself  as  the  king's  friend.  He  had  made 
an  enemy  of  Gwenwynwyn  in  the  east,  of  Maelgwn  in  the 
south,  of  the  Earl  of  Chester  in  the  north-east.  John  evidently 
considered  that  he  had  isolated  lylywelyn  sufficiently  to  break 
him  easily.  This  was,  of  course,  John's  usual  plan.  It  did 
not  immediately  succeed  in  the  case  of  Wales,  because  John 
had  forgotten,  or  overlooked,  the  Welsh  love  of  liberty — a 
strange  omission  in  one  who  had  once  been  a  marcher  lord. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  or  purpose,  we  find  the  English 
king  turning  from  I/lywelyn  to  Gwenwynwyn.  The  latter 
prince  is  again  restored  to  power,  and  his  old  ally,  Maelgwn, 
"  out  of  joy  thereat,"  as  the  chronicler  puts  it,  "  made  peace 
with  King  John  without  regarding  the  oath  and  engagement 
that  existed  between  him  and  Rhys  and  Owain  his  nephews, 
the  sons  of  Gruffydd  son  of  Rhys."  Maelgwn  signalized  one 
peace  by  the  declaration  of  war  upon  his  nephews.  They, 
however,  raised  an  army  and  made  a  night  attack  upon 
Maelgwn' s  forces,  and  completely  defeated  them. 

3°7 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

John  now  (1211)  determined 'to  attack  lylywelyn  and  to 
bring  him  to  complete  submission.  He  summoned  to  him 
at  Caerleon,  or  Chester,  Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys,  Howel  ap 
Gruffydd  of  Gwynedd,  Madog  ap  Gruffydd  Maelor,  Maredudd 
ap  Robert  Cydevain,  and  Maelgwn  and  Rhys  Gryc,  the  last 
two  being  chieftains  of  Deheubarth.  lylywelyn  seems  to  have 
realized  that  the  forces  against  him  were  too  powerful  to  be 
met  in  battle,  and  relied  upon  the  old  policy  of  retreat.  As  the 
Brut  puts  it,  Llywelyn  "  moved  with  his  forces  into  the  middle 
of  the  country,  and  his  property  to  the  mountains  of  Eryri ; 
and  the  forces  of  Mona,  with  their  property,  in  the  same 
manner."  John,  meanwhile,  had  collected  his  forces  at 
Deganwy.  The  expedition  was  a  complete  failure  owing  to 
John's  neglect  to  pay  attention  to  the  commissariat  depart- 
ment. The  month  being  May,  no  crops  were  growing  or  ready 
for  harvesting,  no  fruit  could  be  plucked.  As  to  cattle  and 
all  movable  property,  I^lywelyn  had  doubtless  ordered  his 
followers  to  bring  all  their  possessions  with  them.  John's 
army  was  thus  unable  to  get  food  from  the  Welsh,  and  appa- 
rently had  made  no  arrangements  to  obtain  it  from  England, 
so  that,  as  the  Brut  says,  "  the  army  was  in  so  great  a  want 
of  provisions  that  an  egg  was  sold  for  a  penny-halfpenny  ; 
and  it  was  a  delicious  feast  to  them  to  get  horseflesh." 

John,  thus  hampered  by  want  of  food,  retreated,  and  was  in 
England  by,  or  about,  Whitsuntide.  Provisions  were  collected 
and  steps  taken  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  fiasco  of  May. 
Returning  with  a  larger  army  than  before,  he  built  many 
castles  in  Gwynedd,  and  rapidly  crossed  over  the  Conway 
river,  pushing  on  quickly  toward  Eryri,  where  Llywelyn  was 
still  encamped.  On  the  way  he  found  an  opportunity  to 
destroy  Bangor  by  fire  as  an  answer  to  Bishop  Robert's 
refusal  to  meet  an  excommunicated  king. 

It  seems  clear  that  Llywelyn  realized  that  further  resistance 
was  useless.  He  therefore  determined  to  make  submission 
and  took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  John's 
daughter  to  extract  the  most  favourable  terms  possible. 
Joan  was  sent  to  the  king  to  make  peace  "  in  any  manner  she 
308 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

might  be  able."  In  answer  to  her  embassy  John  ordered  a 
safe-conduct  to  be  given  to  L,lywelyn,  and  eventually  made 
peace  with  that  prince  on  the  terms  that  he  should  hand  over,  be- 
sides hostages,1  some  20,000  cattle  and  forty  steeds,  and  should 
transfer  the  midland  district 2  to  the  king  for  ever.  These  were 
harsh  terms,  and  reduced  I4ywelyn  from  prince  of  the  major 
part  of  Wales  to  the  position  of  a  petty  chieftain  in  the  north. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  at  this  time  John  was  too  strong 
for  him.  The  rest  of  the  Welsh  princes  now  submitted  to  the 
king,  with  the  exception  of  Rhys  and  Owain,  the  sons  of 
Gruffydd  of  Deheubarth,  and  they  were  compelled  to  surrender 
shortly  afterward.  As  soon  as  they  had  made  peace,  however, 
we  find  their  uncles  Rhys  Gryc  and  Maelgwn  repenting  of 
their  bargain  with  the  king  and  demolishing  the  royal  castle 
of  Aberystwyth,  which  Faulkes  de  Breaute  had  lately  built. 

By  the  summer  of  1212  I^lywelyn  had  decided  to  make  an 
attempt  to  throw  off  the  royal  yoke.  In  the  spring  of  that 
year  he  and  his  wife  had  spent  Baster  with  John  at  Cambridge. 
It  is  significant  that  he  returned  to  wage  war  upon  his  host. 
Doubtless  signs  were  not  wanting  which  showed  to  the  discern- 
ing I^lywelyn  that  the  years  when  John's  power  was  absolute 
were  passing  away.  However  that  may  be,  we  find  him,  on 
his  return,  confederating  with  Gwenwynwyn,  Maelgwn,  Madog, 
and  Maredudd  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  castles  lately 
built  in  Gwynedd  and  of  regaining  the  liberty  which,  in  recent 
years,  had  been  threatened,  if  not  lost. 

The  new  league  was  successful  from  the  very  beginning. 
John  himself,  engaged  as  he  was  in  the  north  with  William  of 
Scotland,  was  unable  personally  to  lead  the  forces  of  England 
against  Wales,  and  the  combination  of  almost  all  the  Welsh 
princes  was  too  strong  for  the  marcher  lords.  All  the  castles 
in  Gwynedd  lately  built  by  John  were  destroyed,  except 
Deganwy  and  Rhuddlan.  As  regards  Powys,  Gwenwynwyn 
besieged  Robert  Vepont 3  in  his  new  castle  of  Mathraval,  and 

1  About  thirty  in  number,  including  that  Gruffudd,  Wywelyn's  son,  whose 
subsequent  life  was  so  tragic. 

2  Probably  including  Rhos,  Rhufoniog,  Tegeingl,  and  Dyffryn  Clwyd. 

3  Or  Vieuxpont. 

309 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

Rhys  Gryc  burnt  Swansea.  While  Robert's  castle  was 
besieged,  John  hastened  his  army  to  the  support  of  his  lieu- 
tenant, and  escorted  Robert  from  Mathraval,  which  they 
burnt  to  the  ground  in  order  to  prevent  it  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  Welsh.  Robert  Vepont  retired  to  Shrewsbury, 
where  he  revenged  himself  for  the  loss  of  his  castle  by  hanging 
a  mere  baby,  Rhys,  the  son  of  Maelgwn,  who  was  a  hostage 
to  the  king,  and  who  was  not  yet  seven  years  of  age.  Other 
hostages  were  also  hung,  the  most  important  of  whom  were 
Howel  ap  Cadwalader,  Madog  ap  Maelgwn,  and  Meurig 
Barach. 

John  now  collected  his  forces  at  Chester  for  the  purpose 
of  finally  crushing  I^lywelyn.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Welsh 
princes  were  immensely  strengthened  in  their  resistance  by 
the  moral  support  given  to  them  by  Pope  Innocent  III,  who 
absolved  I4ywelyn,  Gwenwynwyn,  and  Maelgwn  from  the  oath 
of  fidelity  which  they  had  given  to  John,  and  urged  them  to 
oppose  the  excommunicated  king,  at  the  same  time  lifting  the 
interdict,  which  had  previously  been  laid  upon  the  whole  of 
Wales  as  well  as  upon  England,  from  the  territories  ruled  by 
the  three  princes. 

The  result  was  a  series  of  successes  which  enabled  the  allies 
to  regain  control  of  the  midland  district  which  had  been  taken 
from  Llywelyn  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1211.  In  the 
meantime  John  had  thought  better  of  his  proposed  expedition 
into  Wales.  Warnings  from  several  sources,  including  Joan, 
lylywelyn's  wife,  had  persuaded  him  that  the  barons  meditated 
his  murder  in  the  fastnesses  of  Wales,  and,  realizing  that  he 
would  be  at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies  if  those  around  him 
really  desired  his  death,  he  cancelled  all  preparations  and 
returned  without  having  accomplished  anything.  An  effort 
was  then  made  by  John  to  bribe  two  Welsh  nobles  to  attempt 
the  reconquest  of  the  district  recently  won  by  lylywelyn.  It 
came  to  nothing,  however,  and  the  Prince  of  Gwynedd  remained 
master  of  the  north,  and  shortly  afterward  still  further 
strengthened  his  power  by  reducing  the  castles  at  Deganwy 
and  Rhuddlan. 
310 


LLYWELYN    THE   GREAT 

STRUGGLE  FOR  LLANDOVERY  CASTLE 

Meantime  Rhys  and  Owain,  the  sons  of  Gruffydd  of  Deheu- 
barth,  being  practically  disinherited  by  the  successes  of 
Maelgwn,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  member  of  the  alliance 
against  John,  sent  to  the  king  for  aid  in  recovering  their 
patrimony.  John  replied  by  sending  to  the  seneschal  of 
Hereford  and  to  Faulkes  de  Breaute,  seneschal  of  Cardiff, 
orders  to  compel  Rhys  Gryc — Maelgwn' s  ally  in  all  the 
struggles  with  young  Rhys  and  Owain — to  deliver  up  Castle 
Ivlanymddyvri.  Rhys  having  refused  to  share  a  single  acre 
with  his  nephews,  they,  together  with  Faulkes,  invaded  his 
territories  and  drove  him  to  take  refuge  in  the  castle  of 
Dinevor,  which  he  strengthened.  Young  Rhys  invested  the 
castle,  and,  after  an  organized  attack  with  siege  engines  and 
miners,  succeeded  in  compelling  Rhys  Gryc  to  surrender  it 
and  give  hostages.  The  elder  Rhys  now  retired  with  his 
family  to  his  brother  Maelgwn  at  Castle  lylanymddyvri,  which 
they  strengthened  and  prepared  for  a  siege.  Young  Rhys, 
however,  was  again  successful,  the  garrison  capitulating  on 
the  terms  that  they  should  have  safety  of  life  and  limb.  Rhys 
Gryc  thereupon  attempted  to  flee  from  Wales,  but  was 
caught  at  Caermarthen  and  flung  into  the  king's  prison. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1215 

We  have  now  reached  the  fateful  year  1215.  Speaking  of 
this  year,  the  Brut  tells  us  that  "  all  the  good  men  of  England 
and  all  the  princes  of  Wales  combined  together  against  the 
king,  so  that  none  of  them  without  the  others  would  enter  into 
peace  or  agreement  or  truce  with  the  king,  until  he  restored 
to  the  churches  their  laws  and  privileges  which  he  and  his 
ancestors  had  aforetime  taken  from  them,  and  until  he  had 
also  restored  to  the  good  men  of  England  and  Wales  their  lands, 
and  the  castles,  which  he  at  his  will  had  taken  from  them 
without  either  right  or  law." 

John  had  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  Welsh  princes  from 
being  brought  into  the  powerful  combination  which  was  slowly 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

forming  against  him.  I^lywelyn  had  four  hostages  returned 
in  1214.  Early  in  1215  the  king  sent  four  men,  including  the 
Bishop  of  lyichfield,  as  ambassadors  to  see  Llywelyn,  Gwen- 
wynwyn,  Maelgwn,  and  Madog  and  ascertain  their  terms  for 
support  in  the  struggle  which  was  now  impending,  and  further 
overtures  were  made  to  Gwenwynwyn  in  April  of  the  same 
year.  It  was  in  vain.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  John's 
promises  were  worthless,  the  Welsh  princes  shrewdly  suspected 
that  they  could  gain  more  for  themselves  than  John  had 
power  to  give  them. 

I/lywelyn  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  strike  a  blow 
against  John.  As  soon  as  the  northern  barons  (including  one 
bishop,  Giles  de  Breose)  had  entered  I/mdon,1  L,lywelyn  in- 
vested Shrewsbury,  which  was  promptly  surrendered  without 
opposition,  the  castle  being  delivered  up  to  him  as  well  as 
the  town.  This  was  but  the  overture  to  a  campaign  which 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  many  a  castle  in  Wales,  and 
in  the  driving  out  or  subjection  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
English. 

As  we  have  seen,  Giles  de  Breose  was  taking  a  prominent 
part  in  the  insurrection.  He  early  sent  his  brother  Robert 
(or  Reginald)  to  aid  the  Welsh  princes,  and  later  came  himself 
to  Wales  to  give  them  his  support.  Later,  as  we  shall  see, 
Ivlywelyn  was  the  acknowledged  head  of  a  powerful  army 
comprising  all  the  princes  of  Wales,  including  Maelgwn,  Rhys 
Gryc,  and  young  Rhys  and  Owain,  the  two  branches  of  the 
house  of  Deheubarth,  who  after  so  many  years  of  enmity 
were  now  reconciled. 

The  de  Breoses,  after  but  a  few  days'  fighting,  obtained 
Pencelli  and  Abergavenny  Castles,  together  with  White  Castle 
and  the  Isle  of  Cynwreid.2  Later  Aberhonddu,  Maes  Hyvaidd, 
Gelli,  Blaenllyvni,  and  Buellt  Castle  3  were  all  obtained  with- 
out opposition.  Soon  afterward  Reginald  de  Breose  married 
Gwladus,  the  dark-haired  daughter  of  I/lywelyn,  a  mode  of 

1  May  17,  1215.  2  Or  Ynys  Gynwreid,  or  Skenfrith. 

3  These  may  be  identified  with  Brecon,  Hay,  Radnor,  Blaen  I4yfni,  and 
Builth. 

312 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

strengthening  the  alliance  between  these  two  powerful  houses 
which  was  followed  by  John  de  Breose  in  1219,  when  he  married 
I/lywelyn's  youngest  daughter,  Margaret.  It  may  also  be 
remembered  that  David,  lylywelyn's  second  son  and  successor, 
married  Isabella  de  Breose,  so  that  the  two  families  were  very 
closely  connected.  Indeed,  the  de  Breoses  were  rapidly  be- 
coming a  Welsh  family.  Matilda  de  Breose  had  married  a 
Gruffydd,  the  lyord  Rhys'  eldest  son,  and  was  the  mother 
of  the  younger  Rhys  who  had  for  so  many  years  opposed 
his  uncles  Rhys  Gryc  and  Maelgwn,  while  another  Matilda  de 
Breose  married  somewhat  later  Rhys  Mechyll,  the  elder  son 
of  Rhys  Gryc. 

While  these  successes  were  being  gained  by  the  de  Breoses, 
Walter  ap  Gruffydd  or  Gwallter  ap  Einion  Clud  took  posses- 
sion, with  the  consent  of  the  other  Welsh  leaders,  of  Pain's 
Castle  and  Colwyn  Castle  and  the  cantref  of  Elvael.  At  the 
same  time  the  Welsh  completely  overran  Dyfed,  except 
Cemaes,  and  that  they  ravaged,  and  Narberth  and  Maen- 
clochog,  which  they  burned.  Young  Rhys  also,  having  raised 
a  considerable  army,  obtained  possession  of  Cydweli  and  Carn- 
wyllon  and  burned  the  castle,  from  whence  he  went  to  Gower, 
reduced  Castle  I/mghor  (I4ychwr),  attacked  the  castle  of  Hugh 
(Castell  Hen,  possibly,  at  Talybont),  which  was  defended, 
but  subsequently  burnt  and  the  garrison  put  to  the  sword, 
and  burnt  the  castles  at  Oystermouth  (Ystrum  I4wynarth) 
and  Seinhenydd.  (Seinhenydd  has  been  identified  by  some 
with  Swansea.  It  is  probably  unconnected  with  Senghenydd.) 

By  this  time  Magna  Carta  had  been  signed.  So  far  as 
Wales  is  concerned  it  was  only  important  at  that  time  because 
of  the  inclusion  of  clauses  56-58,  which  provided  for  release 
of  hostages,  cession  back  of  castles  and  territories  seized  by 
the  king,  and  the  return  of  documents  signed  and  granted  or 
deposited  for  the  purpose  of  guaranteeing  good  behaviour. 
We  hesitate  to  expand  the  treatment  of  even  the  Welsh 
clauses  hi  Magna  Carta,  since,  as  every  one  knows,  John  early 
showed  an  intention  to  treat  Magna  Carta  as  a  mere  piece  of 
paper,  of  no  binding  force  and  of  no  validity.  The  result  of 

313 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

this  attitude  was  the  calling  in  of  Louis,  Dauphin  of  France, 
by  the  English  barons,  and  a  renewal  of  the  Welsh  wars  by 
the  princes  of  Wales. 

Ivlywelyn  quickly  collected  around  him  well-nigh  all  the 
Welsh  princes.  The  first  place  to  be  attacked  was  Caer- 
marthen.  Within  five  days  that  important  and  powerful 
stronghold  was  taken  and  razed  to  the  ground.  Next  the 
victorious  army  demolished  the  castles  of  Llanstephen,  St. 
dear's,  I/augharne,  and  Narberth.  From  thence  Ivlywelyn 
proceeded  to  Ceredigion  and  attacked  the  castle  of  Emlyn, 
forced  the  men  of  Cemais  to  do  homage  to  him,  and  destroyed 
the  castle  of  their  lord,  now  situated  at  Trevdraeth  (Newport)  in 
place  of  the  older  Nevern.  Shortly  afterward,  about  Christmas 
time,  I^lywelyn's  arms  were  crowned  with  two  great  successes 
— the  capture  of  Aberteifi  (Cardigan)  and  Cilgerran  Castles. 

LLYWELYN  LEADER  OF  THE  WELSH 

The  Welsh  chieftains  were  now  in  a  position  to  deal  as  they 
would  with  the  lands  of  South  Wales.  At  the  same  time 
I/lywelyn  was  their  acknowledged  head  and  had  powerful 
family  influence  through  the  de  Breoses  upon  the  fortunes  of 
South  Wales.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  we  find 
him,  in  1216,  summoning  the  Welsh  chieftains  to  Aberdovey 
to  discuss  the  partition  of  land  between  the  various  claimants 
of  the  house  of  the  I/ord  Rhys. 

This  council,  to  which  were  summoned  "  all  the  Welsh 
princes  for  the  most  part  and  all  the  wise  men  of  Gwynedd," 
was  similar  in  nature  to  those  meetings  which  from  the  time 
of  the  Council  of  St.  Albans  continued  to  be  held  in  ever- 
increasing  frequency  in  England  and  in  later  times  obtained 
the  name  of  Parliament.  The  division  of  South  Wales  which 
was  then  made  was  surprisingly  favourable  to  Maelgwn  and 
Rhys  Gryc.  The  sons  of  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  who  had  for  years 
been  successfully  resisting  the  encroachments  of  their  uncles 
and  Gwenwynwyn,  had  to  be  content  with  part  of  Ceredigion 
and  Cardigan  Castle.  The  rest  went  to  their  rivals  in  the 
race  for  power  in  Deheubarth.  Maelgwn  received  a  large 

3H 


LLYWELYN   THE    GREAT 

part  of  Dyfed,  including  Cemais  and  Emlyn  and  the  castles 
of  Caermarthen  and  Cilgerran  and  two  commotes  in  Ystrad 
Tywi  and  two  commotes  in  Ceredigion.  Rhys  Gryc  obtained 
Cantref  Mawr  and  part  of  Cantref  Bychan  and  Cydweli  and 
Carnwyllion  Castles.  Although  this  division  appears  to  us  to 
be  none  too  fair  to  the  sons  of  Gruffydd,  it  seems  to  have 
been  accepted  by  them,  and  no  attempt  was  made  for  many 
years  to  alter  the  partition  thus  made. 

In  the  same  year  Gwenwynwyn  seems  to  have  decided  that 
I4ywelyn's  power  was  inimical  to  his  own  greatness.    He 
therefore  made  peace  with  John  and  broke  away  from  his 
allies  of  the  preceding  year,  "  treating  with  contempt,"  as  the 
Brut  puts  it,  "the  oath  and  the  engagements  which  he  had 
plighted  to  the  chieftains  of  England  and  Wales  and  violating 
the  homage  which  he  had  done  to  I4ywelyn  ap  lorwerth  and 
surrendering   the  hostages  which  he   had   given   thereon." 
I4ywelyn,  realizing  that  the  defection  of  one  of  the  leading 
chieftains  of  Wales  was  playing  into  John's  hands  and  seriously 
weakening  the  national  movement,  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
regain  Gwenwynwyn's  aid.    We  read  that  he  "  laboured  by 
every  thought  and  affection  and  deed  to  recall  him  back." 
But  though  bishops  and  abbots  were  sent  to  try  to  dissuade 
the  Prince  of  Powys  from  pursuing  the  road  he  had  taken,  it 
was  all  in  vain,  and  Llywelyn,  seeing  that  he  could  not  have 
his  help  as  a  friend,  determined  to  destroy  his  power  as  an 
enemy.     Calling  about  him  most  of  the  princes  of  Wales, 
he  made  a  sudden  attack  upon  Powys  and  compelled  Gwen- 
wynwyn to  flee  to  Chester.    Powys  itself  was  abandoned  to 
lylywelyn,  who  was  not  slow  to  make  himself  master  of  the 
whole  principality.    Gwenwynwyn  had  chosen  an  ill  time  in 
which  to  oppose  I/lywelyn.    The  northern  prince  was  practi- 
cally master  of  Wales,  and  the  king  of  England,  to  whom  the 
Prince  of  Powys  turned,  was  so  beset  with  his  own  troubles 
as  to  have  but  little  time  to  devote  to  Welsh  affairs  and  little 
power  to  give  or  bring  against  friend  or  foe.    Whatever  might 
have  been  the  upshot  had  John  regained  his  old  ascendancy, 
Gwenwynwyn  would  not  have  profited  much,  for  the  year 

315 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

which  saw  his  defection  from  the  national  cause  also  saw  his 
death.  Thus  passes  from  the  page  of  history  one  who,  born 
to  be  a  patriot,  died  almost  a  traitor  to  his  country.  He 
possessed  many  of  the  good  and  evil  qualities  common  to 
many  Celts  ;  energy  and  bravery  in  a  high  degree,  mixed  with 
an  imperious  and  a  passionate  temper  which  could  not  brook 
submission  to  anyone. 

It  was  in  the  October  of  this  year  that  John  died.  Before 
his  death  he  had  made  an  ineffective  raid  upon  the  Welsh 
border  and  had  burnt  the  towns  of  Gelli  and  Maes  Hyvaidd 
and  demolished  the  castles  there,  afterward  sacking  and 
destroying  Oswestry.  It  was  the  last  ill  deed  that  England's 
worst  king  was  destined  to  do  to  Wales ;  and  it  was  not 
without  its  bright  side,  for  when  John,  nearing  the  Welsh 
border,  sent  messengers  to  Reginald  de  Breose  and  the  Welsh 
princes  calling  upon  them  to  join  with  him  and  make  peace, 
the  men  of  Wales  without  exception  stood  firm,  and  John's 
messengers  returned,  having  accomplished  nothing. 

With  the  passing  of  John,  however,  the  personal  feud  which 
had  alienated  the  house  of  de  Breose  from  the  king  came  to 
an  end.  The  starving  of  Matilda  de  Breose  and  her  son  in 
Windsor  Castle  was  a  crime  for  which  John  had  paid  to  the 
full.  The  young  Henry  did  not  inherit  the  legacy  of  hate 
which  his  father  might  have  been  expected  to  have  handed 
down  to  him.  The  result  was  that  with  the  coming  of  the 
new  king  Reginald  de  Breose  reconsidered  his  position  and 
went  over  from  the  Welsh  side  to  the  English.  This  new 
defection  brought  out  against  Reginald  both  the  forces  of  his 
nephews  Rhys  and  Owain,  the  sons  of  Gruffydd,  who,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  lately  been  given  a  portion  of  Ceredigion, 
and  also  Prince  Llywelyn  himself.  A  large  part  of  Buellt 
was  wasted,  and  Aberhonddu  Castle  itself  attacked.  At  last, 
Reginald  having  been  surrounded  and  brought  to  bay,  he 
wisely  surrendered  to  I/lywelyn  and  received  from  him  the 
castle  of  Swansea.1  Llywelyn  shortly  afterward  took  advan- 

1  We  take  this  to  be  the  place  mentioned  in  the  Brut  as  Sein  Henydd, 
although  Senghenydd  has  been  suggested. 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

tage  of  his  presence  in  Gower  to  push  on  to  the  west  and 
attack  the  Flemings.  Haverford  was  surrounded  and  pre- 
parations for  its  reduction  made,  when  peace  was  arranged, 
the  terms  being  that  the  Flemings  should  give  twenty  hostages 
from  Rhos  and  Pembroke  and  pay  1000  marks  by  next 
Michaelmas,  or  else  they  were  to  do  homage  to  I^lywelyn  and 
hold  their  lands  under  him  for  ever. 

About  the  same  time  Rhys  Gryc  seems  to  have  indulged  in 
an  extensive  raid  upon  Gower,  and  to  have  driven  out  many 
of  the  English  who  were  dwelling  there,  filling  their  places 
with  Welshmen. 

In  the  meantime  Llywelyn  and  the  Welsh  princes  generally 
had  completely  lost  the  Pope's  support,  which  had  proved  so 
valuable  in  the  early  days  of  the  struggle  with  John.  I4ywelyn, 
indeed,  had  been  excommunicated.  Nevertheless  he  was  still 
strong  enough  to  resist  the  terms  of  peace  originally  offered 
by  Henry  III  through  the  regent.  At  last,  however,  peace 
was  made  on  terms  which  must  have  reached  lylywelyn's 
highest  hopes.  The  important  royal  castles  of  Caermarthen 
and  Aberteifi  (Cardigan)  were  given  over  to  his  charge  until 
the  king  was  of  age,  and  the  lands  of  Gwenwynwyn  were  also 
granted  to  him  as  custodian  until  Gwenwynwyn's  infant  son, 
Gruffydd,  should  attain  his  majority.  I^lywelyn,  for  his  part, 
did  homage  to  the  king  at  Worcester  in  the  presence  of  the 
magnates  of  the  realm,  and  persuaded  young  Rhys  and  all  the 
Welsh  princes  to  go  to  Henry's  court  to  do  him  homage. 

Llywelyn  now  turned  his  attention  once  more  to  the 
Flemings  of  Rhos.  In  this  campaign  lylywelyn  appears  not 
to  have  acted  alone,  but  as  the  leader  of  the  Welsh  princes 
generally.  The  expedition  was  made,  according  to  the  Brut, 
in  consequence  of  the  Flemings  having  committed  frequent 
depredations  upon  the  Welsh  in  spite  of  the  treaty  of  peace 
lately  entered  into  and  the  compact  concluded  at  Worcester. 
However  this  may  be,  the  campaign  was  both  short  and 
successful.  The  very  first  day  Narberth  Castle  was  rushed, 
and  its  garrison  put  to  the  sword  or  captured  or  consumed  by 
the  flames  which  destroyed  the  castle.  On  the  next  day  Castle 

31? 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Gwys  and  the  surrounding  town  were  both  burnt ;  on  the  third 
day  Haverford  itself  was  laid  waste  by  fire,  even  to  the  castle 
walls.  Finally,  as  the  chronicler  puts  it,  "  he  [Llywelyn] 
went  round  Rhos  and  Deugleddyv  in  five  days,  making  vast 
slaughter  of  the  people  of  the  country."  At  last  a  truce  was 
made  with  the  Flemings,  and  Llywelyn  once  more  returned  to 
his  northern  home. 

LLYWELYN  SUPREME 

It  is  now  desirable  to  state  shortly  the  position  at  this  time 
between  Llywelyn,  the  English  Government,  and  the  Welsh 
princes.  The  policy  of  Henry  Ill's  ministers,  and  in  particular 
of  William  Marshal  and  the  legate  Guala,  and  in  subsequent 
years  of  their  successors,  Hubert  de  Burgh  and  Pandulph,  was 
to  conciliate  Llywelyn  rather  than  to  drive  him  to  rebellion. 
It  would  seem  that  these  statesmen  had  at  last  realized  that 
the  conquest  of  Wales,  if  possible,  would  necessitate  a  vast 
expenditure  of  lives  and  money,  and  would  never  be  wholly 
successful.  They  seem,  therefore,  to  have  decided  on  having 
a  contented,  prosperous,  and  friendly  neighbour  rather  than 
an  enemy,  ever  dangerous,  even  when  conquered.  They 
would  seem  also  to  have  had  in  mind  the  warnings  of  that 
shrewd  Welsh-Norman  Giraldus  who  had  pointed  out  the  diffi- 
culties underlying  the  conquest  and  control  of  Wales,  and  had 
said  with  excellent  wisdom  that  what  the  Welsh  nation  needed 
to  be  happy  and  contented  was  one  prince,  and  that  a  good  one. 

Here,  then,  was  the  opportunity  to  give  Wales  prosperity 
without  completely  relinquishing  control  on  the  part  of 
England.  lylywelyn  was  a  prince  and  a  good  one.  He  had 
shown  himself  capable  of  rising  by  his  own  capacity  and 
eminent  qualities  to  a  supreme  position  among  the  chieftains 
of  Wales.  He  had  also  done  homage  to  Henry  III  with  all 
due  formality  at  Worcester.  He  was,  in  a  word,  the  most 
suitable  person  to  place  at  the  head  of  Welsh  affairs,  both 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Wales  and  of  England.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  feeling  and  this  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
English  Government,  we  find  I/lywelyn  for  the  next  few  years 

318 


PI.ATE  XI/VT.    SEAI,  OF  LLYWEI,YN  THE  GREAT 
The  lower  figure  represents  a  small  oval  counter -seal 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

the  favoured  friend  rather  than  the  enemy  of  England.  Grants 
of  markets  and  manorial  rights  were  made  to  him ;  his  son 
David  was  recognized  as  his  heir ;  and  in  1222,  as  Professor 
Ivloyd  says,  "  he  was  still  treated  by  the  Crown  as  its  best  friend 
and  supporter  in  all  dealings  with  the  princes  of  Wales." 

The  year  1221  is  noteworthy  for  an  event  which  marks  a 
change  from  the  old  method  of  settling  disputes  by  battle  to 
a  new  and  better  way  which  at  once  saw  justice  done  and 
preserved  the  peace.  As  we  have  seen,  some  years  before 
Llywelyn  had  called  a  council  at  Aberdovey  to  decide  how 
South  Wales  should  be  divided  among  the  various  claimants 
of  the  house  of  Rhys.  As  we  suggested,  young  Rhys  got 
none  too  much  as  his  share,  and  although  he  accepted  the 
division  at  the  time,  we  find  him  in  this  present  year  angry 
because  of  the  gift  of  Caermarthen  by  I/lywelyn  to  Maelgwn 
and  the  prince's  subsequent  refusal  to  give  Aberteifi  to 
him.  I/lywelyn  retorted  by  seizing  Aberystwyth  Gastle. 
In  the  old  days  this  would  have  been  a  signal  for  a  general 
war,  but  now  either  lylywelyn  was  too  powerful  or  the  times 
were  better,  and  young  Rhys,  instead  of  flying  to  arms, 
repaired  to  the  court  of  his  overlord,  King  Henry,  and  made 
formal  complaint.  The  result  was  that  Henry  cited  Llywelyn 
and  the  lords  of  the  marches  to  Shrewsbury  to  have  the  matter 
placed  before  the  king's  council.  In  that  council  young  Rhys 
was  successful ;  he  and  I/lywelyn  were  reconciled,  I/lywelyn 
relinquished  Aberteifi,  and  the  peace  was  kept. 

While  this  dispute  was  proceeding  the  relations  between 
I,lywelyn  and  some  of  the  most  important  marcher  lords  were 
admirable.  In  the  north  Earl  Ranulf  of  Chester  was  his 
friend,  and  after  1220  his  relative  by  marriage,  and  in  the 
south  the  family  of  de  Breose,  united  as  it  was  with  the  house 
of  Gwynedd  by  many  ties,  remained  on  cordial  terms  with 
him.  In  1221,  indeed,  John  de  Breose,  on  the  advice  of 
Ivlywelyn,  rebuilt  two  castles  which  had  been  destroyed  in  the 
late  wars,  and  occupied  them.  As  regards  the  Mortimers  in 
the  east,  the  feeling  was  not  quite  so  friendly,  but  on  the  other 
hand  that  family  was  no  longer  the  object  of  the  malignant 

319 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

hate  which  had  been  directed  against  it  in  the  early  years 
of  the  Norman  occupation. 

LLYWELYN  AND  WILLIAM  MARSHAL  THE  YOUNGER 

In  one  quarter,  however,  Llywelyn  had  a  dangerous  enemy. 
The  old  Earl  Marshal  was  now  succeeded  in  the  lordship  or 
honour  of  Pembroke  by  William  Marshal  the  younger.  Lack- 
ing his  father's  wisdom,  he  saw  fit  to  look  upon  Prince  Llywelyn 
with  the  eyes  of  a  marcher  lord  rather  than  those  of  a  great 
Englishman.  Having  taken  that  view,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  attempt  to  reduce  Llywelyn's  power  by  war.  Con- 
sequently, in  1223,  on  his  return  from  Ireland,  we  find  him 
seizing  Cardigan  and  Caermarthen  Castles  and  attempting  the 
occupation  of  Cydweli.  Llywelyn  promptly  countered  the 
aggression  by  sending  his  son  Gruffudd  with  a  considerable 
army  to  oppose  the  Earl's  progress.  After  an  indecisive 
battle  the  English  Crown  stepped  in  to  prevent  further  fight- 
ing and  cited  both  Llywelyn  and  William  to  Ludlow.  "  And," 
as  the  chronicler  says,  "  the  prince  and  the  earl  appeared 
together  at  Ludlow  1  before  the  council  of  the  king  and  the 
archbishop."  With  the  memory  of  Llywelyn's  depredations 
on  the  Flemings,  the  Earl  Marshal  probably  had  good  cause 
to  regard  the  prince  as  his  particular  enemy.  However  that 
may  be,  apparently  no  reconciliation  was  arrived  at  in  this 
council.  Llywelyn  seems  to  have  left  the  meeting-place  an 
angry  man.  The  English  Government,  for  its  part,  appears 
to  have  decided  hi  favour  of  the  Earl  Marshal,  or  rather  against 
Llywelyn,  for  we  find  several  indications  that  from  that  time 
Llywelyn  was  less  in  favour  than  for  years  past.  He  retaliated 
by  attacking  Builth  Castle,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  de  Breose 
family.  Hubert  de  Burgh  now  saw  that  a  fresh  outbreak 
between  the  Welsh  and  the  marchers  was  impending,  and  would 
fall  with  grievous  results  unless  promptly  prevented.  The 
royal  troops  were  rapidly  advanced  to  the  Welsh  borders,  Builth 
Castle  was  relieved,  and  Montgomery  occupied  and  subsequently 
converted  into  one  of  the  strongest  border  fortresses. 

1  Professor  L.loyd  doubts  whether  the  meeting  ever  took  place. 
320 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

I4ywelyn  now  took  the  wise  course  of  submitting  to  the 
Crown,  and  in  consequence  we  find  very  fair  peace  terms 
arranged  between  the  two  states.  I4ywelyn's  position  had, 
indeed,  become  one  of  some  danger.  As  Professor  lyloyd  says  : 
"  He  had  forfeited,  of  the  gains  of  the  civil  war,  Cardigan, 
Carmarthen,  and  Montgomery,  and  his  south  Welsh  allies  .  .  . 
ran  the  risk  of  losing  everything  in  his  cause."  Bearing  in 
mind  this  position,  the  terms  offered  were  by  no  means  onerous. 
I^lywelyn  was  to  relinquish  the  fruits  of  his  Shropshire  raid 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year.  Montgomery,  Cardigan,  and 
Caermarthen  remained  in  the  hands  of  their  holders  as  at  the 
time  of  the  peace,  but  on  the  other  hand  the  princes  of  South 
Wales  recovered  all  the  losses  they  had  sustained  at  the 
hands  of  the  Earl  Marshal.  IJywelyn  thus  gained  vicariously, 
and  indeed  directly,  for  he  was  enabled  by  this  settlement  to 
keep  as  friends  and  as  allies  the  men  of  South  Wales,  who, 
had  their  provinces  been  taken  from  them,  would  have  been 
potent  only  as  enemies. 

FRIENDSHIP  AND  ENMITY 

The  years  which  immediately  follow  are  free  from  events  of 
any  importance.  Presents  which  pass  between  the  English 
court  and  Joan,  I4ywelyn's  wife,  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
Welsh  prince  and  the  king  on  the  other  hand  show  that  in 
1225  cordial  relationship  still  existed  between  the  royal  and 
princely  houses.  In  1226  Llywelyn,  his  wife,  and  his  heir 
met  the  king  at  Shrewsbury,  when  a  further  manor  was? 
granted  to  Joan,  and  in  April  of  the  same  year  the  Pope. 
Honorius  III,  granted  to  Joan — who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  John's  natural  daughter — a  declaration  of  legitimacy, 
The  death  of  the  head  of  the  Mortimers  and  the  absence  of 
the  Karl  Marshal  in  Ireland  further  tended  toward  peace  in 
the  marches. 

In  the  early  part  of  1228,  however,  a  sudden  change  came 
over  Welsh  affairs.  The  Welsh  seem  to  have  regarded  the 
transference  of  the  castle  of  Montgomery  from  the  Crown  to 
the  hands  of  Hubert  de  Burgh  as  a  hostile  act ;  the  castle 

x  321 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

was  surrounded  and  an  attempt  made  to  reduce  it.  There  are 
grounds  for  believing  that  the  justiciar  proposed  to  use  Mont- 
gomery as  a  centre  from  whence  to  reduce  the  surrounding 
country  to  submission.  Apart  from  this  scheme,  which  was 
frustrated  by  the  new  Welsh  movement,  Montgomery  was  an 
important  and  valuable  stronghold,  and  the  English  were  by 
no  means  prepared  to  allow  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Welsh.  At  first  Ivlywelyn  attempted  to  patch  up  peace,  but 
after  a  few  friendly  overtures  the  attempt  failed  and  war  was 
commenced.  The  Brut  tells  us  that  "  King  Henry,  having 
with  him  the  strength  of  England,  came  to  Wales,  intending 
to  subjugate  I^lywelyn  .  .  .  and  all  the  Welsh  princes." 
The  strength  of  the  Welsh  had  been  somewhat  reduced  in  the 
year  preceding  by  the  outbreak  of  another  family  feud  between 
the  members  of  the  house  of  Deheubarth,  but  with  the  coming 
of  the  English  the  Welsh  princes  sank  their  differences  and 
rallied  to  the  standard  of  I^lywelyn,  now  the  acknowledged 
prince  and  leader  of  the  Welsh.  As  usual,  the  English  found 
themselves  unable  to  overcome  the  natural  difficulties  of  the 
country.  As  in  the  campaigns  of  Henry  II  and  John,  the 
English  forces  were  defeated  rather  by  lack  of  food  than  by 
battle.  The  Welsh,  however,  won  some  advantages  apart 
from  the  aid  rendered  by  nature.  William  de  Breose  was 
captured,  and  considerable  loss  inflicted  on  the  English  by 
means  of  the  usual  guerrilla  warfare.  Terms  of  peace  were 
arranged,  and  the  English  consented  to  destroy  the  castle 
which  Hubert  de  Burgh  had  commenced  to  build  in  order  to 
threaten  Arwystli,  lylywelyn  on  his  part  agreeing  to  pay  a 
considerable  sum  for  the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to  justify 
Hubert's  prophecy  when  he  called  this  castle,  which  was  to  be, 
but  never  was, '  Hubert's  Folly.'  On  the  other  hand,  lylywelyn 
had  made  a  handsome  profit  out  of  William  de  Breose,  who 
was  only  ransomed  on  the  terms  that  he  handed  over  Builth 
Castle,  together  with  a  large  sum  of  money  and  some  land — 
a  ransom  which  availed  the  unhappy  William  but  little, 
for  he  was  hanged  by  I/lywelyn  before  two  years  had 
passed  for  being  caught  "  in  the  chamber  of  the  prince,  with 
322 


til      <o 

§    s 

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g  4) 

S  I 

s 

<a 
M      * 


M     "o 
•« 

s  ^ 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

the  princess  Joan,  daughter  of  King  John,  and  wife  of  the 
prince."  l 

For  the  time  being  peace  was  established.  lylywelyn 
rendered  homage  and  the  amicable  relations  of  the  preceding 
years  were  resumed.  It  was  Hubert  de  Burgh's  unquenchable 
ambition  that  was  mainly  responsible  for  the  outbreak  of  1231. 
It  was  becoming  ever  more  evident  that  the  justiciar  would  not  be 
content  to  be  a  mere  marcher  lord.  That  he  had  designs  on  the 
whole  of  South  Wales  is  probable,  that  he  was  steadily  increasing 
his  power  in  the  marches  is  certain.  He  had  obtained  control 
over  the  Welsh  lands  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and  later  of 
John  de  Breose,  and  on  the  death  of  the  Barl  Marshal  his 
power  was  pre-eminent  among  the  marcher  lords. 

The  outbreak  of  1231  was,  however,  both  sudden  and  un- 
expected. As  before,  J^lywelyn  abruptly  determined  on  war, 
although  but  a  few  months  before  he  had  been  on  friendly 
terms  with  England.  The  campaign  which  followed  was  one 
long  series  of  successes.  Castle  after  castle  fell  to  the  victorious 
Welsh.  South  Wales  was  swept  well-nigh  from  end  to  end. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  gain  of  all  was  the  capture  of 
Cardigan  Castle — an  exploit  which  had  been  simplified  by 
young  Maelgwn's  achievement  in  burning  the  town  of  Cardigan 
even  to  the  castle  gate. 

As  a  reply  Uywelyn  was,  as  usual,  excommunicated.  Relief 
was  hurried  to  Newport  Castle  and  one  of  the  grants  to  Joan 
was  revoked.  It  was,  however,  some  months  before  Henry 
assembled  his  main  army  at  Gloucester.  Bven  then  no 

1  The  whole  story  is  a  sad  one  and  we  touch  upon  it  lightly.  That  Joan, 
now  a  matron  of  many  years  and  the  mother  of  a  numerous  family,  should 
have  proved  frail  after  standing  by  her  husband  through  all  their  early 
trials  as  his  best  friend  and  most  potent  ally  makes  us  hope  that  those  annalists 
who  regard  the  story  of  infidelity  as  a  mere  excuse  for  William's  death  are 
correct,  even  though  it  stamps  JUywelyn  with  the  mark  of  murderer.  But 
in  justice  to  that  prince  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  political  expediency 
was  against  William's  death.  David,  Uy  welyn's  heir,  was  about  to  be  married 
to  William's  daughter  Margaret.  And,  further,  I,lywelyn's  vengeance  was  not 
directed  against  William  alone,  for  Joan  also  was  imprisoned.  William  him- 
self was  hanged  on  a  tree  in  broad  daylight  before  nearly  a  thousand  men  who 
had  assembled  to  witness  the  downfall  of  their  prince's  private  enemy.  The 
affair  had  but  few  political  consequences  and  David  actually  married  Margaret. 

323 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

important  steps  seem  to  have  been  taken  to  attack  the  Welsh, 
the  English  forces  apparently  contenting  themselves  with 
castle-building.  With  the  approach  of  winter  the  English 
withdrew.  Before  they  returned  to  the  attack  overtures  for 
peace  had  been  made,  and  by  the  end  of  November  1231  a 
cessation  of  hostilities  took  place.  The  reason  for  this  sudden 
relinquishment  of  all  attempts  to  avenge  the  losses  sustained 
by  Hubert  de  Burgh  is  probably  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
Hubert  himself  was  declining  in  power.  Peter  des  Roches 
was  now  back  in  England,  aiming  at  the  downfall  of  his  rival, 
and  neither  Hubert  nor  the  English  Crown  was  completely 
free  to  give  much  attention  to  Welsh  affairs. 

By  1233  the  storm  which  had  been  brewing  in  England  broke, 
and  while  his  eastern  neighbour  was  in  the  throes  of  civil  strife 
lyly welyn  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  that  fact  in  order 
to  advance  his  own  position.  Henry  was  throughout  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  that  year  engaged  in  conflict  with  the 
powerful  Earl  Richard  of  Pembroke,  brother  to  that  William 
Marshal  of  whom  we  have  lately  spoken.  I,lywelyn  during 
these  months  stood  aloof,  but  by  the  autumn  appears  to  have 
decided,  for  no  very  obvious  reasons,  to  throw  in  his  lot  with 
Richard,  who  was  at  least  holding  his  own  in  the  struggle, 
lylywelyn  himself  devoted  his  attention  to  Brycheiniog.  The 
castle  of  Aberhonddu  (Brecon)  was  laid  siege  to  and  missiles 
and  engines  brought  to  bear  on  it  to  force  its  surrender.  At 
the  end  of  a  month's  ineffective  siege  L,lywelyn  desisted,  after 
reducing  the  town  itself  to  ashes.  Having  relinquished  the 
attack  on  Brecon  Castle,  the  Welsh  leader  turned  his  attention 
to  Colunwy  town,  which  he  burnt,  subjugated  the  Teme 
valley,  burned  Trallwng  (Welshpool) ,  proceeded  to  Red  Castle,1 
which  he  razed  to  the  ground,  and  burned  the  town  of  Oswestry. 

Soon  afterward  Richard  and  Llywelyn,  aided  by  the  Welsh 
chieftains  of  the  south,  overran  South  Wales.  Many  castles 
were  taken,  including  Cardiff  and  Abergavenny,  but  Caer- 
marthen  Castle  stood  firm,  and  all  efforts  to  capture  it  failed. 

1  This  is  doubtful.      See  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  680  «.,  and 
compare  the  Brut  y  Tywysogion  under  date  1233. 
324 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

In  the  February  of  the  next  year  Earl  Richard  left  for  Ireland 
to  oppose  the  king's  forces  there.  As  we  know,  it  was  the 
last  adventure  this  man,  who,  possessing  many  admirable 
qualities,  was  unfortunate  enough  to  live  in  a  time  when  the 
State  was  ruled  by  foreign  favourites,  was  destined  to  embark 
upon.  He  fell  in  the  April  of  that  year  to  the  dagger  of  a 
traitor.  The  effect  of  his  death  upon  Welsh  affairs  was  not 
important,  for  more  than  a  month  before  his  death  a  truce 
had  been  arranged  between  lylywelyn  and  the  EngKsh.  The 
downfall  of  Peter  des  Roches  brought  with  it  that  of  his 
nephew  (or  son)  Peter  de  Rivaux,  who  was  one  of  the  causes 
of  the  Welsh  discontent,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made 
whereby  the  status  quo  ante  bellum  was  reverted  to. 

LLYWELYN'S  LAST  YEARS 

It  will  now  be  evident  to  the  reader,  as  it  was  to  both  the 
English  and  Welsh  of  that  time,  that  I^lywelyn  was  a  man 
who  could  hold  his  own  in  any  dispute,  and  who  possessed  the 
wisdom  and  statesmanship  necessary  to  gather  the  fruits  of 
his  victories  and  to  cover  over  the  traces  of  his  defeats.  For 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  had  waged  intermittent 
but  successful  war  upon  his  enemies,  and  in  the  intervals  of 
peace  had  been  regarded  as  a  prince  to  be  respected  and 
considered.  In  a  word,  Wales  had  got  its  "  one  prince,  and 
that  a  good  one,"  for  whom  Giraldus  sighed.  It  now  remained 
for  the  world  to  see  whether  the  successful  leader  of  armies 
knew  how  to  govern.1 

The  year  1237  saw  the  death  of  I/lywelyn's  wife  Joan,  a 
princess  who,  apart  from  the  unfortunate  event  of  1230,  had 
nobly  supported  her  husband  in  his  struggle  for  power. 
Ivlywelyn,  who  had  forgiven  his  erring  consort  after  she  had 
suffered  a  short  imprisonment,  honoured  her  memory  by 
building  "  the  monastery  for  bare-footed  monks 2  called 
Llanvaes  in  Mona." 

1  It  is  to  be  understood  that  Llywelyn  was  not  de  jure  Prince  of  Wales. 
He  was  Prince  of  Gwynedd  and  M6n  and  custodian  of  what  had  been  Gwen- 
wynwyn's  possessions  only,  but  de  facto  he  controlled  the  whole  of  Wales. 

2  The  Franciscans. 

325 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

This  princess  was  a  very  remarkable  personality,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  full  justice  has  been  done  to  her  memory.  All  the 
world  has  heard  of  Llywelyn  the  Great ;  for  centuries  the 
word  '  I,lywelyn '  was  almost  synonymous  with  '  Welshman.' 
Joan,  on  the  other  hand,  was  soon  well-nigh  forgotten.  Yet 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  had  there  been  no  Joan  there 
would  have  been  no  lylywelyn  the  Great.  We  may,  indeed, 
hazard  the  suggestion  that  what  lylywelyn  was  in  the  field 
Joan  was  in  the  council-chamber.  Even  after  her  lapse  from 
fidelity  I/ly  welyn  appears  to  have  quickly  let  her  out  of  prison 
in  order  to  complete  the  negotiations  with  Henry  which  were 
so  suddenly,  and  of  necessity,  broken  off  by  her  incarceration. 
Throughout  the  years  which  elapsed  between  the  time  when 
the  newly  wed  bride  was  sent  over  the  mountains  of  Eryri  to 
plead  her  husband's  cause  before  her  father  John  and  this 
very  significant  enlargement,  Joan  ever  stands  out  prominently 
as  the  mediator  between  Wales  and  England.  Between  her 
bargainings  for  her  country  she  seems  frequently  to  have 
devoted  her  talents  to  obtaining  concessions  for  herself,  so 
that  constantly  we  find  records  of  grants  of  manors  and 
manorial  rights  being  made  to  this  brilliant  daughter  of  a 
clever  but  unscrupulous  king.  Finally,  as  we  have  seen, 
she  obtained  either  directly  or  indirectly  a  dispensation  from 
the  Pope  removing  the  stain  on  her  birth. 

The  death  of  the  Princess  of  Aberffraw  in  a  sense  complicated 
the  question  of  succession.  While  she  was  alive  her  eldest 
son,  David,  was  unquestioned  heir,  and  as  such  had  been 
recognized  some  years  before.  On  her  death,  however, 
Llywelyn's  eldest  son,  Gruffudd,1  not  improbably  looked 
forward  to  sharing  the  rights  of  succession  with  his  younger 
half-brother.  Gruffudd  was,  of  course,  according  to  English 
notions,  an  illegitimate  child  ;  but  with  the  Welsh  birth  in 
wedlock  counted  no  more  than  birth  out  of  wedlock :  each 
child  was  equally  the  child  of  his  father,  quite  apart  from 
the  mother's  legal  status.  Gruffudd,  beside  these  naturaj 

1  With  reference  to  the  spellings  •  Gruff z<dd '  and  'Gruffydd'  see  Preface, 
p.  xiii. 

326 


t-J 

t-T 
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w 

« 
O 

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P 


O    { 


LLYWELYN    THE    GREAT 

claims,  had  an  independent  and  fiery  spirit,  which  advanced 
him  in  popular  favour  and  strengthened  his  position  con- 
siderably. Consequently,  in  the  year  following  Joan's  death 
we  find  Llywelyn  calling  all  the  princes  of  Wales  to  Strata 
Florida  to  swear  fidelity  to  his  son  David,  thus  confirming  the 
recognition  of  David's  title  made  by  the  Welsh  in  1226.  At 
the  same  time  all  GrufFudd's  lands  were  taken  from  him, 
save  only  Lleyn,  and  transferred  to  the  younger  brother. 
There  were  certainly  excellent  reasons  for  this  policy.  David 
alone  had  any  chance  of  being  recognized  by  either  the  English 
or  the  Pope.1  He  alone  could  expect  favourable  treatment 
from  the  English  king,  and  that  on  account  of  his  relationship 
to  the  English  royal  house.  Moreover,  it  must  have  been 
evident  to  Llywelyn  that  Gruff udd,  with  his  fiery  Welsh 
temper,  lacked  that  balance  and  cool-headedness  which  were 
necessary  if  any  prince  was  to  hold  the  strings  of  power  which 
Llywelyn  had  so  laboriously  gathered  together.  Llywelyn  also 
had  to  guard  against  a  division  of  power  after  his  death,  a 
division  which  would  have  brought  down  the  structure  he  had 
raised  like  a  pack  of  cards,  a  division  like  those  which  in  the 
past  had  proved  well-nigh  the  ruin  of  Wales.  It  was  there- 
fore not  merely  a  case  of  favouring  one  son  at  the  expense  of 
another  ;  it  was  a  question  of  choosing  one  sole  heir  to  the 
whole  of  his  dominion  to  the  complete  exclusion  of  the  other. 
It  was  a  case  of  deciding  the  succession  of  a  crown  rather  than 
the  inheritance  of  land. 

Llywelyn  himself  was  now  an  old  man  for  those  times.  His 
last  years  saw  him  the  sufferer  from  a  paralytic  seizure,  but 
his  mind  remained  clear,  and  when  he  died  in  1240  he  was 
still  at  the  height  of  his  power.  The  chronicler  who  writes 
in  the  Brut  found  it  impossible  to  describe  his  hero's  manifold 
virtues ;  he  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  man  whose  good  works  it 
would  be  difficult  to  enumerate."  The  Annales  Cambriae 
refers  to  him  as  a  second  Achilles.  Poet  after  poet  exhausts 
the  vocabulary  of  rhetoric  in  describing  his  manifold  virtues. 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  English  recognized  him  as  heir  in  1220  ; 
the  Pope  in  1222. 

327 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Perhaps  the  words  of  Dafydd  Benfras  l  express  the  feelings  of 
these  bards  as  well  as  any,  for  he  sings : 

Had  I  the  skill  of  a  wizard 

In  the  primitive,  eloquent  bardic  strain, 

I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  paint  his  prowess 

in  battle, 
Nor  could  Taliesin. 

Llywelyn  was,  indeed,  the  prince  of  Welsh  princes.  Not 
only  was  he  great  as  a  soldier,  but  also  as  a  diplomat,  not  only 
as  a  statesman,  but  also  as  a  benefactor  of  religion,  as  a  patron 
of  learning  and  of  poetry,  as  a  lawgiver  and  administrator. 
In  his  times  Wales  came  near  to  becoming  completely  inde- 
pendent. He  truly  was  Prince  of  Aberffraw  and  Lord  of  the 
mountains  of  Bryri.  In  his  time  the  poets  burst  into  song, 
literature  flourished,  and  religion  was  respected.  Thus  was 
the  wisdom  of  that  saying  of  Giraldus  proved  :  "  Happy  and 
fortunate  indeed  would  this  nation  be,  nay,  completely 
blessed,  if  it  had  good  prelates  and  pastors,  and  but  one 
prince,  and  that  prince  a  good  one." 

1  We  quote  from  Professor  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  691. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE  DOWNFALL 

WITH  the  death  of  I4ywelyn  the  Great  the  position 
in  Wales  was  for  a  time  substantially  altered. 
Llywelyn,  by  the  force  of  his  personality,  aided  by 
the  support  of  his  wife  and  her  relationship  on  the  sinister  side 
to  the  English  Crown,  together  with  circumstances  peculiarly 
favourable  for  the  existence  and  continuance  of  Welsh  inde- 
pendence, had  raised  himself  to  a  position  higher  than  that 
occupied  by  any  Welsh  prince  since  the  Normans  had  obtained 
a  firm  footing  in  the  marcher  districts.  With  his  death  the 
firm  hand  was  removed.  Shortly  before  his  death,  as  we  have 
seen,  Joan,  his  wife,  had  also  died.  England,  though  still 
weak,  was  slowly  recovering  from  the  discontent  induced  by 
John's  wretched  defiance  of  law,  of  the  nobles,  the  people,  and 
the  Pope.  Times  were  changed,  and  even  had  a  great  man 
succeeded  Llywelyn  ap  lorwerth  he  would,  indeed,  have  had 
a  difficult  task  before  him  had  he  determined  to  assert  the 
right  to  maintain  the  position  his  predecessor  had  attained. 

David,  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  Llywelyn  had  chosen  as  his 
successor,  and  who  had  been  accepted  as  such  by  the  princes 
of  Wales  even  in  his  father's  lifetime,  showed  during  his  brief 
career  many  admirable  qualities,  which,  had  times  been  more 
favourable,  might  have  enabled  him  to  govern  Wales  with 
honour,  if  not  with  glory.  But,  as  we  have  said,  times  were 
changed,  and,  moreover,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  have  brothers. 

The  history  of  Wales  shows  us  nothing  so  strongly  or  so 
frequently  as  the  misfortune  of  joint  claimants  to  a  throne. 
Llywelyn  had  seen  quite  clearly  that  unless  unusual  steps 
were  taken  to  secure  to  David  the  sole  and  undivided  allegiance 

329 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

of  Wales  the  State  would  be  split  up,  as  had  so  frequently 
happened  before,  Wales  would  be  weakened,  its  polity  would 
become  incoherent,  and  it  would  fall  a  simple  prey  to  England. 

Even  before  Llywelyn's  death  David  and  his  brother 
Gruffudd  had  been  at  feud.  The  aged  prince  had,  however, 
succeeded  in  keeping  them  apart ;  the  princes  of  Wales  had 
sworn  fealty  to  David  at  Strata  Florida,  the  support  of  the 
Church  had  been  enlisted  on  his  behalf.  David,  seconding  his 
father's  efforts,  had  imprisoned  Gruffudd,  and  so  when  the 
time  came  to  step  into  his  father's  place  it  appeared  as  though 
he  had  cause  to  fear  no  rivals. 

Unfortunately  for  David,  he  was  to  learn  that  an  imprisoned 
prince  is  almost  as  potent  for  mischief  as  a  free  one.  More- 
over, the  other  Welsh  princes,  and  in  particular  Gruffydd  ap 
Gwenwynwyn,  although  prepared  to  acknowledge  the  pre- 
eminence of  Llywelyn,  and  even,  at  his  behest,  swear  fealty  to 
his  son,  were  by  no  means  eager  to  follow  the  untried  and 
comparatively  youthful  David.  The  result,  as  we  shall  see, 
was  that  David  was  placed  in  a  difficult,  it  may  even  be  said 
in  an  impossible,  position. 

At  first  the  steps  he  took  were  prudent.  He  attended  the 
council  at  Gloucester  and  did  homage  for  Gwynedd.  Not- 
withstanding this  ready  acknowledgment  of  Henry  as  his 
overlord,  England  was  by  no  means  prepared  to  allow  him  to 
occupy  his  father's  position.  That  prince  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  obtained  power  over  the  whole  of  Powys — although 
rather  as  custodian  of  lands  forfeited  to  England  than  as 
conqueror  ;  however,  he  had  been  too  strong  to  make  it 
desirable  or  possible  to  wrest  them  from  him.  Now  it  was 
otherwise.  Gwenwynwyn' s  heir  was  clamouring  for  his  lands  ; 
Gilbert,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  was  already  taking  steps  to  recover 
Ceredigion ;  the  lords  of  Montalt  demanded  the  return  of 
Mold  ;  the  Welsh  in  the  south  were  also  asserting  themselves. 
David,  almost  isolated  as  he  was  and  weakened  by  the  rival 
claims  of  his  brother,  temporized,  then  proposed  arbitration. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  David,  after  further  procrastina- 
tion and  delay,  was  cited  to  appear  at  Shrewsbury.  He 

33° 


defaulted,  as  he  did  on  the  second  occasion,  when  the  arbitra- 
tion was  fixed  to  take  place  at  Montford. 

The  result  of  David's  evasions  of  these  attempts  to  have 
the  matter  settled  amicably — evasions  doubtless  prompted  by 
the  knowledge  that  the  result  was  a  foregone  conclusion — 
brought  down  the  wrath  of  the  king  upon  him. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1241  that  Henry  assembled  an 
army  and,  in  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  "came  to  subdue 
the  princes  of  Wales."  The  campaign  was  completely  suc- 
cessful. In  less  than  a  month  the  English,  favoured  by  fine 
weather,  had  David  at  their  feet.  As  the  Brut  tells  us,  the 
result  was  that  Henry  "  took  hostages  from  David,  his  nephew, 
on  account  of  Gwynedd,  that  David  should  pay  to  Gruffydd 
ap  Gwenwynwyn  his  whole  claim  to  Powys,  and  to  the  sons 
of  Maredudd  ap  Cynan  their  whole  claim  in  Meirionydd. 
And  he  cited  David  to  London  before  the  council,  and  he  was 
to  bring  with  him  his  brother  Gruffudd,  and  all  the  prisoners 
that  were  with  him  in  the  prison  of  the  king,  to  London." 

In  the  meanwhile  Gilbert  of  Pembroke  had  taken  the  law 
into  his  own  hands.  Cardigan  Castle  had  been  restored  and 
the  foundations  laid  for  the  renewal  of  English  authority  in 
south-western  Wales.  The  earl  himself  had  been  removed  by 
a  wound  from  the  scene  of  action,  but  the  result  was  merely 
to  enable  the  king  to  take  his  place  and  obtain  control  of  that 
part  of  Wales.  In  1242  we  find  John  of  Monmouth  occupying 
and  strengthening  Builth  and  Menevia,  while  Maelgwn  the 
Little  seized  Garthgrugyn,  and  Roger  Mortimer  took  possession 
of  Maelienydd. 

Thus  in  less  than  three  years  David  had  been  reduced  to 
the  position  of  a  tribal  chieftain.  Even  in  this  position  he 
was  not  secure.  Henry,  by  obtaining  the  custody  of  his  rival 
Gruffudd  (whom  he  had  placed  in  the  Tower  of  London),  had 
made  a  clever  move.  It  was  now  possible  for  him  to  reduce 
David  to  the  position  of  a  chieftain  battling  for  his  chieftaincy 
by  putting  Gruffudd  against  him  and  by  giving  to  the  rival 
the  royal  support.  Henry,  however,  was  soon  to  lose  this 
lever.  In  1244  Gruffudd,  weary  of  his  long  imprisonment, 

331 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

made  a  daring  attempt  to  escape.  Fashioning  a  rope  out  of 
sheets  and  cloths,  he  endeavoured  to  climb  down  it  from 
a  window  in  the  tower  in  which  he  was  imprisoned.  But  the 
rope  broke  before  he  had  got  very  far,  and  falling  heavily 
from  a  considerable  height,  he  broke  his  neck.  David,  on 
hearing  of  his  brother's  death,  determined  to  avenge  one 
whom  in  life  he  had  hated.1  As  the  Chronicle  of  the  Princes 
tells  us,  "  David  became  enraged,  and  summoned  all  his  good 
men  to  him  and  attacked  his  foes,  and  drove  them  from  all 
their  borders" — the  chronicler  significantly  adds,  "except 
such  as  were  in  castles."  David  next  sent  to  all  the  Welsh 
princes  claiming  their  aid.  There  was  a  considerable  response, 
though  the  Powysian  princes  and  Morgan  ap  Howel  hung 
back.  These,  we  are  informed,  David  attacked  and  compelled 
to  make  submission. 

David  now  began  to  show  the  qualities  of  a  leader  of  men. 
Not  content  merely  with  gathering  the  Welsh  chieftains  round 
him,  he  looked  for  help  from  higher  quarters.  The  Pope's  aid 
was  sought,  and  for  the  moment  was  obtained.  David,  mean- 
while, taking  advantage  of  Henry's  Scottish  troubles,  seems 
to  have  ravaged  the  border  counties,  and  although  at  first 
Henry  treated  the  movement  as  a  matter  of  small  moment,  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  the  king's  presence  was  necessary 
in  order  that  peace  might  be  restored. 

We  have  now  reached  the  year  1245.  The  earlier  months 
had  been  occupied  in  unimportant  struggles  between  the 
English  and  Welsh — struggles  which  had  favoured  sometimes 
the  one  side,  sometimes  the  other.  At  last,  however,  after 
the  loss  of  Mold  Henry  determined  to  act,  and,  assembling  the 
English  forces  and  calling  upon  the  Irish  to  lend  support,  he 
marched  on  Wales,  intending  its  conquest.  Deganwy  was  his 
objective.  He  was  at  Chester  by  August  13,  and  had  reached 
Deganwy  by  the  26th.  Here  he  remained  until  the  end  of 
October,  busying  himself  with  castle-building.  Little  further 

1  Professor  Lloyd  suggests,  doubtless  correctly,  that  David's  renewed 
activity  was  due  less  to  his  belated  brotherly  regard  than  to  the  fact  that, 
now  his  rival  was  removed,  he  was  free  to  act. 

332 


THE    DOWNFALL 

was  done,  and,  in  the  words  of  the  Brut,  "  after  fortifying  the 
castle,  and  leaving  knights  in  it,  he  returned  to  England, 
having  left  an  immense  number  of  his  army  dead  and  unburied, 
some  having  been  slain  and  others  drowned."  In  truth  the 
expedition  had  been  little  more  than  a  failure.  Henry,  it  is 
true,  had  strengthened  Deganwy,  but  he  had  lost  many 
men,  the  Welsh  having  constantly  harassed  his  forces  and 
having  skirmished  and  attacked  by  day  and  night  with  the 
utmost  bravery.  His  army  had  also  suffered  severely  from 
exposure.  Food  was  almost  unprocurable,  and  the  weather 
was  harsh.  Matthew  Paris  has  much  to  say  of  the  hardships 
thus  endured.  The  fear  of  raids,  want  of  food  and  proper 
clothes  and  shelter  made  the  English  pray  for  a  quick  and 
safe  retreat.  Henry  on  his  return  revenged  himself  for  his 
failure  by  forbidding  all  trade  in  corn,  salt,  iron,  steel,  or 
cloth  with  Wales. 

DAVID'S  DEATH.     RISE  OF  LLYWELYN  AP  GRUFFUDD 

It  was  early  in  the  year  following  that  David  died,  leaving 
no  heir  to  follow  him.  At  once  a  dispute  arose  over  the 
succession.  The  two  chief  claimants  were  Owain  the  Red 
and  lylywelyn,  the  eldest  and  second  son  of  Gruffudd  ap 
I^lywelyn  Fawr  respectively.  These  two  brothers  eventually 
decided,  "  by  the  advice  of  good  men/'  to  settle  their  differ- 
ences and  divide  the  inheritance. 

The  times  were  certainly  not  suited  to  disputes  between  the 
Gwyneddians  themselves.  The  English  were  still  threatening. 
Henry  had  sent  Nicholas  de  Myles,  or  Meules,  justice  of  Caer- 
marthen,  who  had  joined  with  Maredudd  ap  Rhys  and 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  to  dispossess  Maelgwn  of  Deheubarth. 
This  chieftain  had  been  compelled  to  fly  to  Gwynedd  and  to 
throw  himself  on  the  protection  of  Owain  and  lylywelyn. 
Nicholas  followed  them,  leading  his  army  farther  north  even 
than  the  Dovey.  Meanwhile  the  Earl  of  Clare  was  making 
his  power  felt  in  the  south.  It  was,  indeed,  a  time  of  power- 
lessness  for  Wales.  The  Welsh  princes  were  driven  both 
in  the  north  and  the  south  to  the  mountains,  where  they 

333 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

hid   their   weakness   behind    the    natural   strength   of   their 
country. 

At  last  a  truce  was  patched  up  through  John  de  Gray,  the 
new  justice  of  Cheshire,  and  in  April  1247  peace  was  made 
between  the  Welsh  leaders  and  the  king  at  Woodstock. 

The  peace  then  formed  was,  when  judged  by  the  ordinary 
Welsh  standards,  a  lengthy  one.  It  lasted,  indeed,  for  eight 
years  and  some  months.  During  that  time  Owain  and 
Ivlywelyn  were,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  reduced  to  the 
position  of  chieftains  of  Gwynedd,  using  that  word  in  the 
lesser  sense. 

The  years  pass  by  uneventfully  until  we  reach  1255.  In 
that  year,  according  to  the  chronicler,  "  by  the  instigation  of 
the  devil,  a  great  discussion  was  engendered  between  .  .  . 
Owain  the  Red  and  David  on  the  one  side  and  I4ywelyn  on 
the  other."  The  result  of  this  inter-family  feud  was  a  victory 
for  I4ywelyn  at  Bryn  Derwin,  the  flight  of  David  (a  younger 
brother),  and  the  capture  of  Owain,  who  was  promptly  thrown 
into  prison.  Uywelyn  was  thus  enabled  to  claim  the  leader- 
ship of  all  the  Gwyneddians. 

It  was  in  the  year  following  that  the  first  steps  were  taken 
which  resulted  in  the  Welsh  rising  under  I^lywelyn.  Edward, 
Earl  of  Chester,  destined  in  future  years  to  become  the  con- 
queror of  Wales  and  one  of  England's  great  kings,  came  to 
Wales  to  take  a  general  view  of  the  state  of  the  royal  castles 
and  demesnes  in  the  north.  The  Welsh  had  anticipated 
some  improvement  in  their  position  as  a  result  of  the  princely 
visit.  Geoffrey  L,angley,  who  had  been  given  control  of  a 
large  part  of  mid- Wales,  had  by  his  harsh  conduct  caused 
much  discontent.  The  Welsh  chieftains  had  been  treated 
with  scant  respect,  and  they  probably  hoped  for  a  redress  of 
grievances  from  Edward.  He  came,  he  reviewed  his  castles, 
he  saw  that  they  were  adequately  garrisoned,  he  enjoyed 
himself  with  his  boon  companions — and  returned,  leaving  the 
Welsh  nobles  utterly  neglected  and  with  their  troubles  un- 
relieved. The  national  character,  quick  to  take  an  insult, 
ready  on  the  instant  to  fly  into  a  passion,  asserted  itself. 

334 


THE    DOWNFALL 

According  to  the  Brut, "  The  nobles  of  Wales  came  to  I4ywelyn, 
son  of  Gruff udd,  having  been  robbed  of  their  liberty,  and 
made  captives,  and  complainingly  declared  to  him  that  they 
would  rather  be  killed  in  war  for  their  liberty  than  suffer 
themselves  to  be  trodden  down  by  strangers  in  bondage." 
"  Uywelyn,"  we  are  informed,  "  was  moved  to  tears." 
Readily  acceding  to  the  demand  for  revenge,  he  combined  with 
Maredudd  ap  Rhys  Gryc,  invaded  the  midland  country,  and 
within  a  week  succeeded  in  making  himself  master  of  it. 
Meirionydd  was  seized,  and  that  part  of  Ceredigion  possessed 
by  Edward  was  assigned  by  the  Welsh  leader  to  Maredudd 
ap  Owain,  great-grandson  of  the  I,ord  Rhys,  to  whom  was 
also  given  Builth.  His  ally,  Maredudd  ap  Rhys  Gryc,  was 
established  once  again  in  Deheubarth.  So  far  I4ywelyn 
himself  had  gained  little  except  "  fame  and  regard,"  but 
later  he  succeeded  in  wresting  Gwerthrynion  from  Roger 
Mortimer,  which  acquisition  he  kept  for  himself. 

The  two  Maredudds  and  L,lywelyn  were  again  active  in 
the  year  following.  This  time  the  territory  of  Grufiydd  ap 
Gwenwynwyn,  a  chieftain  who,  following  the  practice  of  his 
house,  had  adhered  rather  to  the  king  than  to  the  Welsh 
leaders,  was  the  objective.  Powys  was  overrun.  The  allies 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  Severn  valley.  Welshpool  was  burnt, 
Bydydon  (Bodyddon)  Castle  was  destroyed.  Indeed,  little 
escaped  the  onslaught  of  I^lywelyn  and  his  supporters  save  part 
of  the  vale  of  Severn  and  a  portion  of  Caereinion — the  centre 
of  GrufTydd's  strength.  Trallwng  Castle,1  however,  held  out. 

It  was  in  the  June  of  this  year  that  the  next  event  of 
importance  took  place.  Rhys  Vychan  had  sought  English  aid 
to  regain  his  rights.  Supported  by  Bauzan,  a  royal  officer, 
and  a  considerable  force,  Rhys  prepared  to  attack  Dynevor. 
The  two  Maredudds  were,  however,  well  posted  around  the 
town  and  prepared  to  prevent  any  further  advance.  After  a 
few  skirmishes  the  opposing  parties  were  ready  to  come  to 
blows,  when  Rhys  forsook  his  English  ally.  The  Welsh 
attacked,  Bauzan's  forces  broke  and  fled.  They  were  pursued, 

1  Pool  Castle. 

355 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

brought  to  bay,  and  completely  defeated  at  a  battle  fought  at 
Cymerau.1 

The  Welsh  party  were  now  in  the  ascendant.  The  deserter, 
Rhys,  had  joined  Llywelyn  and  his  allies.  Castle  after  castle 
fell  before  them.  Cemais  was  subdued ;  with  the  aid  of 
Rhys,  Trevdraeth  2  was  attacked  and  its  castle  destroyed  ; 
Rhos  was  raided  and  the  country  ravaged  as  far  as  Haverford  ; 
Glamorgan  was  invaded  and  the  castle  of  Llan  Geneu  (or 
lylangynwyd)  burnt.  The  chronicler  adds  that  after  these 
many  victories  "  they  returned  home,  having  killed  many 
and  captured  others." 

The  English  Government  had  not  ignored  these  revolts  and 
reverses.  After  the  defeat  of  Bauzan  at  Cymerau  steps  had 
been  taken  to  raise  an  army  for  the  subjugation  of  I^lywelyn 
and  his  allies.  By  August  Henry  had  got  together  a  consider- 
able force,  which  he  led  in  person  to  Deganwy,  where  he 
remained,  effecting  little,  until  September.  Irish  aid  had 
been  looked  for,  but  it  did  not  come,  and  the  king  appears 
to  have  suddenly  abandoned  all  further  effort  to  check 
lylywelyn,  and  shortly  afterward  retired  on  Chester,  harassed 
all  the  way  by  the  Welsh,  who,  as  was  their  custom,  contented 
themselves  with  cutting  off  stragglers. 

Another  Welsh  chieftain  now  hurried  to  the  victorious 
lylywelyn.  Gruffydd  ap  Madog,  of  the  princely  house  of 
Powys,  became  reconciled  to  the  chieftain  of  Gwynedd,  despite 
the  fact  that  his  kinsman,  Gruffydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn,  was 
still  at  enmity  with  L/lywelyn.  1/lywelyn  was  now  almost  as 
powerful  as  his  grandfather.  Gwenwynwyn's  son  soon  felt 
his  power,  and,  being  too  weak  to  resist,  was  driven  into 
banishment. 

LLYWELYN  PRINCE  OF  WALES 

The  years  which  followed  saw  lylywelyn  the  admitted  leader 
of  the  Welsh  people.  In  1258  the  Welsh  chieftains  took  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  him  under  pain  of  excommunication,  and 

1  See  as  to  this  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  720,  n,  23. 

2  Trevdraeth  =  Newport. 

336 


THE    DOWNFALL 

he  is  found  from  now  onward  adopting  the  style  and  title 
of  '  Prince  of  Wales.'  This  solemn  oath  had  established 
Llywelyn  as  leader  of  his  countrymen,  it  had  consolidated  his 
power,  but  it  was  not  strong  enough  to  prevent  Maredudd  ap 
Rhys  attempting  to  gain  a  personal  advantage  at  the  price  of 
his  honour.  He  had  been  one  of  the  nobles  to  take  the  oath, 
but  he  quickly  broke  it  and  passed  over  to  the  English  side. 
Llywelyn  now  showed  himself  as  ready  to  punish  faithlessness 
as  in  earlier  years  he  had  been  to  support  loyalty.  Maredudd's 
lands  were  invaded  and  ravaged,  he  himself  was  attacked  and 
severely  wounded,  and  in  the  year  following  accused  of  treason, 
condemned,  and  imprisoned. 

The  years  which  followed  were  comparatively  uneventful. 
In  1258  Llywelyn  had  effected  a  protective  alliance  with  the 
Scots  ;  in  1259  a  truce  was  patched  up  with  the  English.  In 
1260  a  determined  attack  was  made  upon  Builth,  and  Roger 
Mortimer  was  driven  back  on  his  castle  there,  the  rest  of 
that  district  being  occupied  by  the  Welsh.  Fresh  successes 
brought  fresh  support,  and  Owain  ap  Maredudd  of  Elvael, 
who  had  previously  stood  aloof  from  the  national  party,  now 
threw  in  his  lot  with  theirs.  Later  in  1260  Builth  Castle  fell 
through  treachery,  and  Roger  Mortimer  had  to  be  content  to 
see  one  of  his  newest  strongholds  burnt  to  the  ground.  The 
result  of  this  success  was  the  addition  of  the  men  of  Maelienydd 
to  Llywelyn's  imposing  list  of  supporters. 

It  was  not  until  1263  that  any  further  attack  of  moment 
was  made  by  the  Welsh.  The  English,  for  their  part,  were 
too  much  occupied  with  the  struggle  between  the  king  and 
his  barons,  which  in  1264  was  to  result  in  the  battle  of  Lewes, 
to  take  any  steps  to  recover  from  Llywelyn  the  gains  he  had 
obtained.  In  less  than  twenty  years  the  Welsh  leader  had 
raised  himself  from  the  position  of  a  joint  sharer  of  a  petty 
chieftaincy  to  that  of  acknowledged  Prince  of  Wales.  The 
English  king  had  made  several  abortive  attempts  to  reduce 
him  to  submission.  English  and  Welsh  nobles  had  felt  his 
power.  He  had  attained  this  position  largely  by  reason  of 
his  own  personality,  partly  in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of 

Y  337 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

the  English  king.  How  much  of  his  success  was  due  to  his 
personal  qualities  is  shown  by  the  letter  written  by  Henry  on 
hearing  a  rumour  of  Llywelyn's  death.  Everything  appears 
to  have  been  thought  of  for  a  thorough  absorption  of  Wales. 
But  I^lywelyn  was  not  dead,  and  while  he  lived  no  steps  were 
taken  to  carry  out  the  complicated  plan. 

The  Welsh  leader  was  strangely  quiet  during  the  years 
1261-1262.  Of  course  there  was  the  truce,  but  truces  easily 
gave  way  before  opportunity,  and  England  was  singularly 
weak  during  those  years.  In  1260  Edward  had  for  a  short 
time  joined  forces  with  Simon  de  Montfort  against  his  father  ; 
I/eicester  had  been  charged  with  treason.  In  1261  Henry  had 
appealed  to  the  Pope,  and  a  bull  issued  releasing  Henry  from 
his  promises  and  allowing  him  to  annul  the  Provisions  of 
Oxford.  As  a  result  the  barons  were  once  more  united 
against  their  king.  The  bull  being  rendered  valueless  for  the 
time  being  by  the  death  of  the  Pope  (Alexander  IV),  some 
semblance  of  peace  was  patched  up  in  the  winter  of  1261,  but 
a  new  bull  was  granted  by  Urban  IV  early  in  1262,  confirming 
the  earlier  one.  Montfort  returned  from  the  Continent  (where 
he  had  been  since  the  autumn  of  1261)  and  rallied  the  baronial 
party.  By  January  1263  the  pressure  on  the  king  had  become 
so  great  that  he  was  compelled  to  confirm  the  Provisions. 

It  was  during  this  anxious  time  for  England  that  Wales 
chose  to  be  so  curiously  peaceful.  It  is  true  that  toward  the 
end  of  1262  a  raid  was  made  on  Maelienydd,  and  Roger 
Mortimer's  castle  of  Cefnllys  was  attacked  and  Humphrey  de 
Bohun's  relieving  force  defeated.  Roger  himself  was  brought 
to  his  knees,  but  was  treated  magnanimously  by  his  kinsman 
Ivlywelyn,  being  allowed  to  depart  without  injury  on  promise 
of  crossing  the  border.  The  movement,  however,  was  isolated 
and  comparatively  unimportant. 

While  the  Welsh  refrained  from  attacking  the  English, 
Prince  Edward,  who  had  been  granted  large  estates  in  North 
Wales,  had  also  taken  little  interest  in  his  Welsh  possessions, 
and  had  made  practically  no  attempt  to  gain  in  fact  what 
was  his,  from  the  English  point  of  view,  by  law.  Early  in 
338 


THE    DOWNFALL 

1263,  it  is  true,  he  led  a  force  to  the  relief  of  Diserth  and 
Deganwy,  but  he  was  soon  recalled.  The  English  desire  for 
peace  can,  of  course,  be  readily  understood  :  England  itself 
was  on  the  very  brink  of  civil  war  ;  but  there  must  have 
been  some  good  reason  for  Llywelyn's  attitude.  It  may  be 
that  he  was  ill ;  it  is  more  probable  that  he  was  in  conflict  with 
his  brother  David.  We  find  that  in  1263  David  had  quarrelled 
openly  with  his  brother  and  crossed  the  border  into  England 
with  his  adherents,  completely  abandoning  the  Welsh  party 
for  the  king.  There  is  another  explanation  of  I4ywelyn's 
peaceful  policy.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  took  advantage 
of  the  conflict  between  king  and  barons  to  consolidate  his  own 
position  rather  than  to  weaken  his  opponent's.  As  a  result 
of  his  management  of  public  affairs  he  was  so  strong  that 
when  David  rose  against  him — probably  at  the  instigation 
of  Edward — he  replied  by  overrunning  north-eastern  Wales 
even  to  the  gates  of  Chester,  and  Diserth  and  Deganwy  were 
forced  to  surrender. 

It  is  generally  accepted  that  during  this  campaign  the 
Welsh  were  acting,  if  not  in  alliance  with,  at  least  with  the 
approval  of,  the  barons  as  against  the  royal  party.  The 
capitulation  and  destruction  of  Diserth  and  Deganwy  had 
been  a  severe  loss  to  Edward,  and  he  took  steps  to  cause  a 
breach  in  the  ranks  of  the  barons  and  their  Welsh  supporters. 
In  1264,  however,  de  Montfort  was  clearly  in  alliance  with 
I4ywelyn.  The  Mortimer  1  and  Bohun  lands  were  ravaged 
and  their  castles  taken.  In  the  meantime  Gruffydd  ap 
Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys,  who  until  now  had  been  antagonistic 
to  lylywelyn,  acknowledged  him  as  overlord,  and  by  1264  the 
chronicler  could  rightly  call  lylywelyn  Prince  of  all  Wales. 
I^ater  in  that  year,  and  after  de  Montfort' s  victory  at  I^ewes, 
lylywelyn  rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  great  Earl  Simon  by 
harassing  the  marcher  lords  who  still  held  out  for  the  king. 
As  the  price  of  his  support  lylywelyn  had  extracted  generous 
terms  from  de  Montfort — terms  which  were  vastly  improved 
upon  at  the  conference  at  Pipton  in  June.  lylywelyn  was 

1  Mortimer  had  recently  deserted  the  popular  party. 

339 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

recognized  as  Prince  of  Wales  and  overlord  of  all  the  Welsh 
chieftains.  All  the  territory  taken  from  Llywelyn  the  Great 
or  his  successors  was  restored,  and  Pain's  Castle,  Hawarden, 
and  Whittington  were  expressly  granted  to  the  Welsh  leader. 
I^lywelyn  was  to  render  the  aid  of  an  ally,  and  was  to  pay 
30,000  marks. 

lylywelyn  was  now  at  the  very  height  of  his  power.  What 
his  position  would  have  been  had  de  Montfort  succeeded  in 
his  struggle  against  the  royal  power  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
As  we  know,  Earl  Simon  was  even  at  this  time  hard  pressed. 
Edward  had  escaped  in  May,  Gloucester  had  defected  from 
de  Montf ort's  side,  the  marchers  were  assembling  a  formidable 
force  in  support  of  Edward.  The  struggle  came  suddenly  to 
an  end  in  August,  when  at  Evesham  Edward  was  completely 
victorious  and  de  Montfort  was  slain. 

The  fall  of  de  Montfort  was  a  blow  to  Uywelyn,  who  had 
adventured  something  in  his  cause.  But  Edward  was  still  by 
no  means  free  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  Welsh.  The  de 
Montfort  party  was  still  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  though 
the  great  Earl  of  Leicester  was  dead.  Chester,  however,  was 
reoccupied,  and  Cheshire  freed  from  the  Welsh.  On  the 
other  hand,  lylywelyn  gained  some  small  successes,  and  on  the 
whole  maintained  his  position.  Finally,  in  1267  peace  was 
arranged  between  Henry  and  L4ywelyn  through  the  mediation 
of  Octobonus  (Ottobon),  the  papal  legate,  and  the  Treaty  of 
Montgomery  was  signed.1 

This  peace  was  a  signal  triumph  for  the  Welsh  leader.  He 
was  confirmed  in  his  title  of  Prince  of  Wales  ;  he  was  regarded 
as  the  overlord  of  the  Welsh  chieftains,  with  the  exception  of 
Gruffydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn  and  Maredudd  ap  Rhys.  He  was 
also  granted  the  four  cantrefs  previously  held  by  Prince 
Edward,  together  with  many  castles  lately  held  or  claimed  by 

1  Ottobon  met  Llywelyn's  ambassadors  at  Shrewsbury,  and  the  treaty 
of  peace  was  signed  there  on  September  25.  This  peace  is  sometimes  referred 
to  as  the  Treaty  of  Shrewsbury.  It  was  not  ratified  by  I/lywelyn,  how- 
ever, until  Michaelmas  Day,  when  that  prince  met  Henry  at  Montgomery, 
rendered  homage,  and  formally  made  peace.  We  call  it,  therefore,  as  is 
customary  in  works  on  Welsh  history,  the  Treaty  or  Peace  of  Montgomery. 

34° 


THE    DOWNFALL 

the  English.  In  return  for  these  very  great  concessions 
lylywelyn  was  only  required  to  sign  the  treaty  of  peace  and 
to  promise  a  sum  of  25,000  marks,  which  was  made  payable 
by  instalments. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  show  Llywelyn's  strength.  They 
show  still  more  clearly  England's  weakness.  Edward  evidently 
found  it  necessary  to  purchase  peace  at  any  price.  His 
country  was  completely  exhausted  by  the  struggles  of  the 
preceding  years.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  Gilbert,  Earl 
of  Gloucester,  with  Welsh  aid,  had  marched  upon  London 
and  had  been  well  received,  and  Ottobon  had  been  captured. 
Gloucester,  it  is  true,  had  eventually  submitted,  and  Llywelyn 
was  isolated  from  any  powerful  English  ally,  but  the  royal 
party  was  still  fearful  of  further  risings,  and  peace  was  essential 
for  the  consolidation  of  its  forces.  Even  so,  however,  it  is 
greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  Welsh  leader  that  Ottobon  found 
it  possible  to  congratulate  himself  upon  such  a  peace.  It  left 
Llywelyn  virtually  an  independent  Prince  of  Wales,  owning 
but  a  technical  feudal  overlordship  in  the  king.  From  the 
Welsh  point  of  view  the  terms  were  as  good  as,  or  better 
than,  those  offered  by  de  Montfort  at  Pipton. 

FROM  THE  PEACE  OF  MONTGOMERY  TO  THE 
EDWARDIAN  CONQUEST 

For  the  next  ten  years  Wales  was  at  peace.  During  those 
years  many  of  the  part  icipators  in  the  earlier  struggles  passed 
from  the  stage  of  history.  Anian,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and 
Richard,  Bishop  of  Bangor,died  in  1266  and  1267  respectively. 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  had  already  been  buried  at  Strata  Florida 
when  Gruffydd  ap  Madog  of  northern  Powys  (Maelor),  once 
the  friend  of  England,  but  in  his  later  years  the  ally  of  Llywelyn, 
left  his  fortress  of  .Dinas  Bran  for  his  final  resting-place  in 
Valle  Crucis.1  Howel  and  Madog,  Gruffydd's  brothers,  pass 
from  the  scene  about  the  same  time.  Maredudd  ap  Rhys, 
whose  friendship  with  England  in  the  later  years  of  his  We 
had  carried  him  from  the  side  of  I4ywelyn  and  the  national 

1  He  died  in  1269. 

341 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

party — a  piece  of  faithlessness  which  made  it  necessary  for 
the  English  to  put  a  special  clause  in  the  Treaty  of  Mont- 
gomery for  his  protection — died  two  years  later.  Rhys 
Vychan  of  Deheubarth  and  Maredudd  ap  Howel  of  the  chieftains 
of  Gwynllwg  are  lesser  names  which  are  now  lost  sight  of. 

But  though  death  had  been  busy  in  the  ranks  of  his  friends 
and  his  enemies,  it  left  untouched  I^lywelyn's  own  family. 
Unmarried,  he  possessed  no  descendants  of  his  own,  but  of 
brothers  he  had  several,  and  each  of  them  was  a  source  of 
perpetual  trouble  and  anxiety  to  him.  His  eldest  brother, 
Owain  Goch,  had  long  been  kept  in  captivity.  A  younger  one, 
Rhodri,  had  also  been  imprisoned,  but  eventually  succeeded 
(about  1272)  in  escaping  to  England.  David,  the  youngest 
brother,  who  had  already  shown  a  capacity  for  treachery,  had 
been  especially  protected  by  the  Treaty  of  Montgomery.  He 
took  advantage  of  his  freedom  to  enter  into  a  conspiracy 
with  Gruffydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn,  his  wife  and  son  Owain,  to 
assassinate  Llywelyn.  The  evil  plot  was  perfected  in  1274. 
David's  daughter  was  to  marry  Owain,  David  was  to  become 
Prince  of  Wales,  the  house  of  Powys  was  to  gain  Kerry  and 
Cydewain.  The  plot  was  discovered.  David  fled  to  England  ; 
messengers  were  sent  to  Gruffydd  at  Pool  to  demand  an 
explanation.  Gruffydd,  after  at  first  entertaining  them 
lavishly,  flung  the  messengers  into  prison,  ordered  the  castle 
to  be  defended,  and  with  his  family  and  chattels  escaped  to 
Shrewsbury.  I^ywelyn  quickly  avenged  the  wrong  done  to  his 
envoys.  Pool  Castle  was  attacked  and  destroyed ;  Gruffydd's 
lands  were  occupied  without  opposition  and  reduced  to 
possession. 

Two  years  before  this  sign  of  weakness  in  Wales  Henry  III 
of  England  had  died.  He  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Edward  I,  who  possessed  qualities  peculiarly  suitable  for  the 
conquest  of  Wales.  Determined,  clear-headed,  equally  admir- 
able at  the  council-board  as  in  battle,  Edward  had  also  con- 
siderable experience  with  Welsh  affairs.  He  had  learnt  that 
compared  with  their  valour  in  the  hills  the  Welsh  were  tame 
fighters  in  the  lowlands.  He  knew  from  experience  how  a 

342 


THE    DOWNFALL 

strong  castle  was  more  valuable  than  many  men  in  a  country 
which  could  not  be  subdued  in  a  moment,  and  which  did  not 
yield  enough  produce  to  feed  an  army  for  a  month.  It  was 
in  the  August  of  1274  that  this  destined  conqueror  of  Wales 
was  crowned.  To  the  coronation  were  summoned  Alexander 
of  Scotland  and  I^lywelyn  of  Wales,  both  to  do  homage.  The 
former  responded,  the  latter  did  not. 

The  reason  for  the  refusal  is  not  obvious.  During  Henry's 
lifetime  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Montgomery  had  been 
faithfully  kept.  Even  in  1273  I4ywelyn  was  on  friendly 
terms  with  the  English,  though  two  years  before  he  had 
been  launching  a  second  attack  upon  Gilbert  of  Gloucester's 
partially  built  castle  of  Caerphilly.  But  after  Henry's  death 
there  commences  to  be  trouble  over  the  money  payments  re- 
quired by  the  treaty ;  JUywelyn  refused  to  do  homage  ;  the  two 
leaders  were  slowly  drifting  to  a  conflict.  The  matter  came  to 
a  head  with  I/lywelyn's  refusal  to  appear  at  Edward's  coronation 
and  with  Edward's  friendly  reception  of  David  and  Grufrydd, 
who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  fled  from  Wales  on  the  plot  they  had 
hatched  against  I/lywelyn's  life  being  discovered.  It  would 
appear,  indeed,  that  Llywelyn's  refusal  was  due  to  his  fear 
that  a  king  who  could  receive  his  would-be  assassins  could 
also  take  his  life.  This  at  least  is  the  main  reason  given  by 
him  in  his  letter  to  the  Pope. 

There  was  another  fact  which  determined  lylywelyn  to 
prepare  to  fight.  He  saw  that  war  with  England  was  almost 
unavoidable.  He  also  saw  that  to  meet  such  an  enemy 
without  allies  or  supporters  would  inevitably  result  in  defeat. 
The  Welsh  leader  seems,  therefore,  to  have  decided  to  carry 
on  the  de  Montfort  tradition,  ally  himself  with  that  house, 
and  make  a  bid  for  the  support  of  the  more  discontented 
section  of  the  English  baronage.  The  movement  was  naturally 
regarded  with  some  concern  by  Edward,  for,  although  the 
baronial  trouble  was  dying  down,  England,  as  we  have  said, 
needed  peace.  The  king  accordingly  took  steps  to  thwart 
I/lywelyn's  purpose.  Eleanor,  daughter  to  Earl  Simon,  whose 
hand  had  been  promised  to  Llywelyn  as  far  back  as  1265,  set 

343 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

out  for  Wales  from  France  under  the  escort  of  her  brother, 
Amaury,  in  1275.  The  purpose  of  her  visit  was,  of  course, 
her  intended  marriage  with  Llywelyn.  Edward,  however, 
had  no  mind  to  permit  this  union,  and  intercepted  Eleanor 
and  her  brother  while  yet  on  the  sea.  Llywelyn's  wished-for 
bride  was  detained  at  the  queen's  court ;  Amaury  was 
imprisoned  in  Corfe  Castle. 

It  is  evident  that  at  that  time  Llywelyn  did  not  feel  himself 
strong  enough  to  resist  Edward,  for  even  with  his  bride  captured 
and  virtually  imprisoned  he  refrained  from  any  acts  of  war. 
The  year  1276  passed  by  without  hostilities  having  com- 
menced, though  Llywelyn's  continued  refusal  to  do  homage 
save  under  impossible  conditions  had  driven  Edward  to  call  a 
council  of  war  in  the  November  of  that  year.  At  that  council 
it  was  decided  to  bring  Llywelyn  to  submission,  and  levies 
were  summoned  for  the  summer  of  1277.  Roger  Mortimer 
was  sent  to  Montgomery,  Warwick  to  Chester,  and  Pain  of 
Chaworth  to  Caermarthen.  The  marcher  lords  were  also 
required  to  raise  their  tenants  to  aid  the  king. 

The  essential  weakness  of  Llywelyn's  position  was  now 
made  evident.  It  became  apparent  that  for  many  years  a 
process  of  absorption  had  been  going  on.  No  longer  were 
Welshman  and  Norman  utterly  alien  or  bitterly  hostile.  No 
longer  on  the  threatening  advance  of  an  English  army  did  the 
Welsh  ranks  close  up  to  unite  in  one  solid  body  to  withstand 
their  common  enemy.  Now  the  men  of  the  middle  march 
welcomed  Mortimer ;  Gruffydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn  sided  with 
the  marchers  against  Llywelyn,  and  was  restored  to  Upper 
Powys.  The  men  of  Bromfield,  Elvael,  Llandovery,  Brecon, 
and  Dynevor  passed  over  to  the  king's  side.  Pain  of  Chaworth 
reduced  Ceredigion  to  submission  without  any  serious  engage- 
ment being  fought. 

The  dying  down  of  racial  hatred  and  the  continuance  of 
tribal  jealousies  had  thus  resulted  in  a  few  months  in  the 
reduction  of  Llywelyn  from  the  position  of  Prince  of  Wales 
to  that  of  chieftain  of  Gwynedd,  and  by  this  time  the  levies 
summoned  in  the  previous  November  had  mustered  at 
344 


PLATE  XIJX.    QUEEN  ELEANOR'S  CHAMBER,  CONWAY  CASTLE 

Photo  Owen  Evans,  Conway  344 


THE    DOWNFALL 

Worcester.    Nearly  a  thousand  lances  followed  Edward  to 
Chester,  which  was  made  the  base  of  operations. 

Edward's  plan  of  campaign  seems  to  have  been  to  shut 
Llywelyn  up  in  his  mountain  fastnesses  and  to  starve  him 
into  submission.  In  pursuance  of  this  objective  he  pushed  on 
in  the  mountainous  district  of  Eryri,  following  the  northern 
coast  route,  clearing  forests  away  as  he  went  to  prevent  his 
men  being  picked  off  by  the  Welsh  bowmen,  and  having  his 
main  force  protected  from  hostile  attack  by  the  fleet  from 
the  Cinque  Ports,  which  sailed  close  in  to  the  coast.  By 
the  end  of  August  Began wy  had  been  reached,  and  the  line 
of  communication  protected  by  forts  built  at  Flint  and 
Rhuddlan.  Meanwhile  the  king's  forces  had  been  considerably 
augmented,  and  now  numbered  not  less  than  16,000  soldiers, 
besides  numerous  sappers  and  miners.  The  army  once  safe 
in  Deganwy,  the  fleet  was  dispatched  to  Anglesey  to  prevent 
supplies  of  corn  being  sent  from  there  to  Llywelyn,  now  at 
bay  in  Eryri.  The  movement  was  successful,  and  the  crops 
of  Mon  were  gathered  to  feed  English  soldiers.  Meanwhile 
Llywelyn  and  his  men  were  threatened  with  starvation,  and 
realizing  that  the  position  was  hopeless,  the  prince  submitted 
on  the  Qth  of  November. 

THE  TREATY  OF  CON  WAY,  OR  ABERCONWAY 

As  a  result  of  his  submission  Llywelyn  was  compelled  to 
accept  the  rigorous  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Conway.  By  it  he 
surrendered  the  whole  of  South  and  Central  Wales,  and  also 
the  country  between  Conway  and  the  Dee.  His  title  of  prince 
had  gone,  his  overlordship  had  gone,  and  he  was  reduced  once 
more  to  the  position  of  chief  of  Gwynedd  above  Conway  and 
lord  of  some  minor  nobles,  including  Rhys  Vychan.  His 
brother  Owain  he  was  forced  to  release  and  establish  in  Lleyn, 
and  David  was  made  lord  of  Rhufoniog,  Dyffryn  Clwyd,  and 
Hope.  Llywelyn  was  also  required  to  pay  a  yearly  rent  for 
his  holding,  and  a  heavy  war  indemnity.  These  last  two 
provisions  were,  however,  remitted  after  he  had  made  his 
formal  submission  at  Rhuddlan. 

345 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Edward  seems  now  to  have  extended  his  policy  of  con- 
ciliation even  to  his  late  enemy.  Although  he  compelled 
lylywelyn's  attendance  at  the  Christmas  court  at  Westminster, 
he  consented  in  the  year  following  to  the  solemnization  of  the 
marriage  between  Llywelyn  and  Eleanor,  a  marriage  which 
took  place  at  Winchester,  Edward,  according  to  the  Brut, 
"  bearing  the  cost  of  the  banquet  and  nuptial  festivities 
liberally."  But  though  his  policy  as  regards  Llywelyn  would 
have  made  for  peace,  his  desire  to  introduce  the  English  shire 
system  into  Wales  sowed  the  seeds  of  future  conflict.  Welsh 
law  was  banished  from  the  marcher  courts,  Welsh  customs 
were  treated  as  of  no  worth  or  force.  The  shire  organization 
of  Ceredigion,  or  Cardiganshire,  and  Caermarthenshire  was 
revived.  Royal  officials  were  sprinkled  all  over  Wales,  and, 
like  most  such,  used  their  brief  authority  to  grind  down  the 
people  over  whom  they  had  power.  The  result  was  dis- 
content, a  quiet  anger  which  smouldered  on  for  more  than 
four  years,  and  then,  on  March  21,  1282,  burst  into  flame. 

THE  RISING  OF  1282 

The  fatal  David  was  the  first  to  rise  in  rebellion.  It  may 
be  that  he  had  hoped  for  more  than  Edward  had  cared  to 
give  him.  Whatever  the  cause,  we  find  him  on  the  day  before 
Palm  Sunday  attacking  Hawarden  Castle,  which  soon  yielded. 
His  action  was  the  signal  for  a  general  rising.  The  men  of 
the  south  attacked  Carreg  Cennen,  Aberystwyth,  and  I4an- 
dovery  Castles ;  Llywelyn,  eagerly  throwing  in  his  lot  with  his 
countrymen,  crossed  the  Conway  and  directed  an  unsuccessful 
attack  upon  the  royal  strongholds  at  Flint  and  Rhuddlan. 

Edward  quickly  took  action.  levies  were  summoned,  and 
Gilbert  of  Gloucester  was  ordered  to  reconquer  the  Vale  of 
Towy.  On  June  16  or  17  the  earl's  men  were  attacked, 
however,  at  lylandeilo  Fawr  and  defeated,  Gloucester  being 
driven  back  on  Caermarthen.  In  the  meantime  Llywelyn  was 
hurrying  south  from  the  north,  and  succeeded  in  keeping  in 
check  the  English  forces  under  William  of  Valence,  who  had 
succeeded  Gilbert  of  Gloucester. 

346 


THE    DOWNFALL 

Edward,  meanwhile,  had  reached  Rhuddlan,  at  which  place 
he  remained,  fearing  to  risk  an  attack  upon  Gwynedd  while 
David  (who  was  posted  at  Denbigh)  threatened  his  flanks. 
At  last,  however,  David  was  dislodged  by  the  Karl  of  Lincoln, 
and  about  the  same  time  Reginald  Grey  obtained  control  of 
Ruthin,  and  Earl  Warenne  seized  Bromfield  and  Yale. 
Ivlywelyn  had  now  returned  to  Eryri,  where  he  had  been 
joined  by  David.  It  was  against  Snowdonia,  therefore,  that 
Edward  now  directed  his  army. 

It  had  early  been  seen  by  Edward,  who  had  the  memories 
of  the  1277  campaign  fresh  in  his  mind,  that  it  was  necessary 
to  gain  control  of  Anglesey  and  its  corn.  In  pursuance  of  this 
purpose  I/uke  de  Tany,  Seneschal  of  Gascony,  had  been  sent 
to  conquer  Mon  with  a  few  of  the  men  of  Aquitaine.  The 
expedition  was  at  first  successful,  and  by  September  Anglesey 
was  under  his  control,  and  communication  was  established  with 
the  mainland  by  means  of  a  pontoon.  It  would  seem  that 
about  November  6  Tany  made  some  sort  of  attempt  to  attack 
Llywelyn's  main  army.  The  Welsh,  however,  easily  over- 
whelmed the  Frenchman's  small  force,  and  drove  them  back 
to  their  slender  bridge  of  boats,  which,  giving  way  before 
the  rush  of  the  panic-stricken  men,  precipitated  many  into 
the  water,  including  their  leader,  who  was  drowned. 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  Peckham's  ill-conceived 
attempt  at  mediation  was  made.  Uywelyn  was  offered  an 
English  estate  of  the  value  of  £1000  a  year  in  exchange  for 
his  claims  to  Welsh  soil.  The  overture  was  not  accepted,  and 
the  struggle  continued. 

A  position  of  stalemate  had  now  practically  been  reached. 
The  king  had  maintained  the  war  for  a  length  of  time  for 
which  feudal  levies  were  unfitted,  and  most  of  his  English 
soldiers  had  returned  to  their  homes.  He  was  desperately  in 
need  of  money,  and  only  a  fixed  determination  to  bring  Wales 
finally  to  submission  could  have  persuaded  him  to  continue 
the  campaign  over  the  winter.  lylywelyn,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  safe  in  Snowdon's  fastnesses.  But,  though  safe,  he  was 
quite  impotent.  With  the  south  by  no  means  closed  to  him, 

347 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

he  was  not  threatened  with  starvation  as  in  1277,  but  on  the 
other  hand  he  could  strike  no  effective  blow  against  Edward. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Llywelyn  determined  to  take 
advantage  of  the  recent  death  of  Roger  Mortimer  to  strengthen 
his  position  in  the  south  and  east.  He  made  his  way  toward 
Builth,  and  would  appear  to  have  been  engaged  upon  the 
reduction  of  Builth  Castle  when  the  misfortune  occurred 
which  resulted  in  his  death  and  in  the  practical  termination 
of  the  Welsh  resistance. 

It  was  while  his  followers  were  holding  the  passage  of  the 
Yrfon  at  Orewyn  Bridge  that  Llywelyn,  deeming  their  position 
secure  for  the  time  being,  left  his  troops  for  the  purpose, 
according  to  Professor  Tout,  of  conferring  with  some  local 
chieftains.  In  his  absence  the  English  crossed  the  stream  at 
another  place  and  attacked  the  Welsh  in  the  rear.  Messengers 
were  sent  to  Llywelyn  requesting  his  return,  and  he  was 
hurrying  back  to  lead  his  men  when  he  was  met  by  Stephen 
Frankton,  a  Shropshire  lanceman,  and  slain.  The  identity 
of  his  victim  was  unknown  to  the  death-dealer  until,  on 
searching  the  body,  he  found  documents  that  made  it  clear 
that  this  was  the  famous  Llywelyn,  once  Prince  of  all  Wales. 
As  was  usual  in  those  days,  the  chieftain  once  recognized, 
his  head  was  struck  off  and  sent  to  the  king,  who,  after 
exhibiting  it  to  his  army,  dispatched  it  to  London.  The 
body  was  eventually  buried  at  Cwm  Hir. 

With  the  death  of  Llywelyn  the  struggle  practically  came 
to  an  end.  For  a  few  months  longer  David  continued  to 
wage  some  sort  of  resistance,  but  in  June  1283  he  was  betrayed 
by  his  own  men,  and  in  the  October  following  was  put  to 
death,  after  a  trial  at  the  Parliament  convened  at  Shrewsbury. 

Llywelyn  on  his  death  left  no  male  descendants.  His  wife, 
Eleanor,  had  died  in  child-birth  shortly  after  their  union.  The 
child,  Gwenllian,  was  destined  to  end  her  days  an  unwilling 
nun  in  the  convent  of  Sempringham. 

The  time  had  come,  indeed,  when  Wales  was  to  begin  to 
combine  with  England  to  form  a  united  country.  The  process 
of  absorption  which  had  been  progressing  silently  for  centuries 


THE    DOWNFALL 

had  at  last  prepared  the  Welsh  for  amalgamation  with  the 
English.  As  we  shall  see,  the  juncture  did  not  take  place  at 
once  or  in  a  moment.  Many  grievances  arose  which  had 
to  be  redressed.  Rebellions,  some  small,  some  large,  broke 
out.  For  years  there  was  a  feeling  of  enmity  between  English 
and  Welsh  in  the  border  counties.  But  at  last  Welsh  aid  in 
the  French  wars  and  a  Welsh  king  on  the  English  throne 
completed  what  Edward's  conquest  had  commenced — the 
amalgamation  of  Wales  and  England. 


349 


CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  THE  CONQUEST  TO  OWAIN 
GLYNDWR 

THK  triumph  of  Edward  marks  the  end  of  the  history 
of  Wales  as  a  separate,  independent  state.  All  that 
remains  for  us  now  to  do  is  to  trace  the  development 
of  certain  trends  which  have  the  appearance  of  being  of  a 
national  character.  In  particular  we  shall  have  to  consider 
the  rising  of  the  Welsh  under  Owain  Glyndwr — a  movement 
which  was  like  to  cost  Henry  IV  his  crown  had  it  not  been 
for  the  perverse  self-complacency  of  Hotspur.  For  the  rest, 
however,  the  history  of  Wales  as  a  separate  nation  is  already 
told.  As  we  read  in  the  Historic  of  Cambria,  "  Prince  I/lywelyn 
and  his  brother  David  being  so  basely  taken  off,  and  leaving 
nobody  to  lay  any  specious  claim  to  the  principality  of  Wales, 
King  Edward,  by  a  statute  made  at  Ruthlan  [Rhuddlan], 
incorporated  and  annexed  it  to  the  Crown  of  England."  This 
important  statute,  which  was  virtually  an  act  of  annexation, 
shows  its  purpose  in  the  preamble,  which  runs  as  follows : 
"  Edward,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  England,  Lord  of 
Ireland,  and  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  to  all  his  subjects  of  his  land 
of  Snowdon  and  of  other  his  lands  in  Wales,  greeting  in  the 
Lord.  The  Divine  Providence,  which  is  unerring  in  its  own 
government,  among  other  gifts  of  its  dispensation  wherewith 
it  hath  vouchsafed  to  distinguish  us  and  our  realm  of  England, 
hath  now  of  its  favour  wholly  and  entirely  transferred  under 
our  proper  dominion  the  land  of  Wales,  with  its  inhabitants 
heretofore  subject  unto  us  in  feudal  right,  all  obstacles  what- 
soever ceasing,  and  hath  annexed  and  united  the  same  unto  the 
Crown  of  the  aforesaid  realm  as  a  member  of  the  same  body." 
350 


CONQUEST  TO   OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

The  result  of  this  Statuta  Wallie  was  to  separate  North  Wales 
from  the  marches.  The  eastern  part  of  Wales  was  divided 
into  counties  *  and  placed  under  the  English  system  of  local 
government ;  sheriffs  and  other  officers  were  appointed  ;  the 
English  mode  of  legal  procedure  was  established;  the  office 
of  coroner  was  introduced  ;  the  king's  writs  were  made  to  run 
in  Wales ;  the  assize,  the  jury,  essoins,  and  vouching  to 
warranty  in  the  English  manner  were  also  introduced ;  the 
English  law  of  dower  took  the  place  of  the  old  Welsh  law 
relating  to  goods  in  communion  and  division  on  separation 
and  da. 

In  one  important  particular,  however,  the  old  Welsh  system 
still  lived  on.  The  Welsh  mode  of  inheritance  of  land,  not 
according  to  the  law  of  primogeniture,  but  according  to  a 
custom  similar  to  that  existing  in  Kent  to-day,2  was  preserved. 
In  the  future  as  in  the  past  Welsh  land  descended,  not  to  the 
eldest  son,  but  to  all  heirs  equally.  But  one  change  was  made 
even  here.  Edward  expressly  excluded  natural  children  from 
inheriting  (at  least  where  there  were  legitimate  children). 
Welsh  civil  procedure  and  the  old  Welsh  law  of  theft  (very 
similar  in  many  ways  to  the  equally  old  Halifax  gibbet-law) 
were  also  preserved  to  a  certain  extent,  but  in  general  the 
English  criminal  law  was  substituted  for  the  Welsh. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  preamble  to  the  Statuta  Wallie 
relates  to  Snowdon  and  the  Welsh  lands  lying  around.  It  did 
not  apply  to  the  marcher  lands.  As  Sir  David  Brynmor  Jones 
points  out,  the  result  was  "  to  create  formally  an  important 
distinction  between  the  Principality  land  and  the  marchers." 
It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  marches  included  all 
land,  wherever  situated,  which  was  under  the  control  of  a 
marcher  lord.  He  retained  considerable  seigneurial  rights, 

1  The  counties  thus  formed  were  Anglesey,  Carnarvonshire,  and  Merioneth- 
shire. The  shire  system  was  also  introduced  into  or  perfected  in  Flintshire, 
Caermarthenshire,  and  Cardiganshire. 

*  As  Sir  Henry  Maine  pointed  out  many  years  ago,  there  are  leading 
differences  between  the  two  systems.  For  our  purpose,  however,  they  are 
similar.  The  Kentish  custom  is  likely  to  be  abolished  if  the  Real  Property 
Bill  introduced  in  1914  is  passed. 

351 


p 

: 

d 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 

including  power  to  sentence  to  death  for  criminal  offences  or 
to  pardon,  and  the  king's  writ  did  not  run  in  the  marches.  He 
had  his  own  chancery  and  his  own  courts.  He  could  hold 
pleas  of  all  actions  at  law.  He  could  create  boroughs.  He 
had,  in  fact,  the  jura  regalia,  and  was  in  much  the  same 
position  as  a  palatine  earl. 

When  we  remember  that  according  to  I^ord  Herbert  of 
Chirbury  there  were  at  one  time  no  fewer  than  141  lordship 
marchers,  it  can  be  imagined  that  the  conflict  of  custom  and  the 
divergences  in  the  standards  of  justice  were  considerable.  I 
would  appear  that  this  diversity  of  law  and  custom  was  adde 
to  by  the  existence  in  some  lordships  of  two  courts,  one  for 
the  English  tenants,  the  other  for  the  Welsh,  and  in  the  two 
different  law  was  applied.  As  Stephen  says,1  "  So  much  of 
Wales  as  had  not  been  brought  under  the  Statutum  Walliae 
by  Edward  I  continued  till  the  27  Henry  VIII  (1535)  to 
be  governed  by  a  number  of  petty  chiefs  called  lords 
marchers." 

The  evils  which  sprang  from  these  many  jurisdictions  had 
an  important  bearing  on  the  history  of  Wales  for  the  next  two 
centuries.  With  so  many  masters  having  rule  over  them,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Welsh  were  discontented  and 
eventually  rose  in  rebellion.  It  has  been  suggested  compara- 
tively recently  that  the  main  cause  of  the  rising  under  Owain 
Glyndwr  was  the  Black  Death,  with  its  resulting  misery. 
That  there  is  much  probability  in  this  suggestion  is  certain, 
but  it  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  Welsh  had  been 
groaning  for  over  a  century  under  seigneur ial  jurisdictions 
without  any  native  protectors  to  guard  them  from  real  oppres- 
sion, as  had  been  the  case  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  struggle 
between  Welsh  and  Norman  and  Welsh  and  English.2  As  we 
shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  when  a  Welshman  was  at  last 
upon  the  throne  of  England  an  attempt  was  made  to  develop 

1  History  of  Criminal  Law,  vol.  i,  p.  142. 

*  Had  the  English  law  as  administered  in  the  royal  courts  been  introduced 
and  the  seigneurial  jurisdictions  pruned  there  would  probably  have  been 
no  great  feeling  against  it.  See  Pollock  and  Maitland,  History  of  English 
Law,  vol.  i,  pp.  220,  221. 

352 


CONQUEST  TO   OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

the  prince's  court  into  a  Council  of  the  Marches  sufficiently 
well  equipped  and  powerful  to  combat  the  marcher  lords. 
Injustice  was  checked,  and  with  it  lawlessness.  But  that  great 
reform  lay  far  in  the  future. 

REVOLT 

We  have  now  roughly  sketched  out  the  position  as  regards 
the  administration,  or  maladministration,  of  law  under  the  new 
regime.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Welsh  were 
labouring  under  some  very  real  grievances  after  the  overthrow 
of  I^lywelyn.  As  Powel  tells  us,  the  Welsh  did  not  love  the 
English ;  they  could  not  forget  the  oppressions  and  "  intoler- 
able insolences "  of  the  English  administrators.  As  to  the 
Caernarvon  Castle  fraud,  we  pass  it  by  in  silence.  Whether 
Edward  really  hoped  to  comfort  the  Welsh  by  cracking  his 
little  joke  about  the  prince  who  could  not  speak  a  word  of 
English  we  know  not.  It  is  certain  that  his  subsequent 
grants  of  lordships  and  towns  upon  English  followers  cannot 
but  have  roused  opposition  among  the  Welsh. 

There  was  one  Welshman  who  must  have  felt  particularly 
bitter  at  the  turn  affairs  were  taking.  Rhys  ap  Maredudd, 
the  traitor  who  had  sold  I4ywelyn,  hoping  to  obtain  the  more 
from  the  English,  had  gained  but  little  by  his  treachery.  He 
had  seen  the  English  encroaching  more  and  more,  and  had 
lost  his  right  to  hold  court  or  to  judge  his  fellow-countrymen. 
Finally,  the  bitterest  blow  fell  when  he  was  cited  to  serve  on  a 
jury  *  before  the  justice  Robert  de  Tippetot.2  Rhys  indignantly 
refused,  alleging  his  ancient  privileges  and  liberties  as  his 
excuse.  He  was  to  learn  that  a  new  order  of  things  had  come. 
Proceedings  were  instituted  against  him.  Rhys  retaliated  by 
calling  up  his  tenants.  After  some  delay,  caused  by  the  king's 
promise  to  redress  all  grievances,  he  attacked  his  enemies' 
lands  and  "burnt  and  spoiled  several  towns  belonging  to  the 
English."  The  Earl  of  Cornwall,  however,  who  was  sent  to 

1  This  is  doubtful.  We  have  accepted  Towel's  language.  He  says,  "  cited 
with  all  the  rest  of  the  country."  If  he  were  speaking  technically,  '  country  ' 
means  jury.  2  I,ater  spelt  '  Tiptoft.' 

z  353 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

quell  the  rising,  had  little  difficulty  in  putting  down  this  small 
rebellion  and  in  overthrowing  Rhys'  castle  of  Dryslwyn.  His 
main  loss,  indeed,  was  caused,  not  by  Rhys'  followers,  but  by 
the  walls  of  the  castle  falling  unexpectedly  upon  the  besiegers 
while  they  were  mining  them. 

Rhys,  however,  was  not  content  to  remain  under  the  heel  of 
Tippetot.  We  consequently  find  him  in  1290  raising  another 
insurrection.  This  time  Tippetot  himself  replied.  According 
to  Powel,  Tippetot  organized  a  strong  force,  with  which,  after 
the  slaughter  of  4000  (?)  of  the  Welsh,  he  took  Rhys  prisoner. 
The  Michaelmas  following  saw  the  end  of  this  Welshman. 
Sent  to  York — where  Edward  was  staying  on  his  way  to 
Scotland — he  was  tried  and  condemned  to  death.  He  was 
dragged  to  execution  by  horses  in  the  manner  so  common  in 
those  days. 

A  more  serious  rising  occurred  in  1294.  Wales  was  still 
sullenly  discontented.  Edward's  demand  requiring  service  in 
Gascony  was  resented  in  Wales  as  fiercely  as  in  England  and 
the  marches.  The  new  tax  of  a  fifteenth  on  chattels  was 
an  added  grievance.  In  Michaelmas  1294,  the  Welsh  plans 
having  matured,  the  signal  for  revolt  went  forth,  and  all 
Wales  rose  up  in  one  final  attempt  for  freedom.  The  leader, 
Madog  (possibly  a  natural  son  of  lylywelyn  ap  Gruffudd),  led 
the  men  of  Gwynedd  and  seized  Caernarvon  Castle.  Maelgwn 
Vychan  at  the  head  of  the  West  Welsh  captured  Caermarthen 
and  Cardigan.  The  marches  were  on  fire.  The  men  of  Rhos 
and  Rhufoniog  laid  siege  to  Denbigh,  and  the  castles  of  Flint 
were  in  danger.  Glamorgan  rose  against  Gilbert  of  Gloucester, 
whose  strong  castle  of  Caerphilly,  though  impregnable  itself, 
was  unable  to  overawe  the  countryside.  Morgan,  their 
leader,  was,  however,  careful  to  make  clear  that  his  grievance 
was  against  the  earl,  not  against  the  king. 

The  position  was  so  grave  that  Edward  postponed  his 
French  campaign.  The  Gascon  levies,  then  at  Portsmouth, 
were  hurried  to  the  Severn.  Criminals  were  pardoned  on 
promise  to  serve  against  the  Welsh  and  in  Gascony.  By  such 
means  a  thousand  men-at-arms  had  been  gathered  under  the 

354 


CONQUEST  TO   OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

royal  standard  by  Christmas,  and  meanwhile  the  marcher 
lords  had  mustered  their  retainers. 

In  the  meantime  the  levies  from  Portsmouth,  under  Edmund, 
Karl  of  Lancaster,  and  Henry  I^acy,  had  been  met  by  the  Welsh 
at  Denbigh  and  defeated.  Edward,  however,  after  keeping 
Christmas  at  Aberconway,  determined  to  lead  his  troops  in 
person,  and  to  push  on  still  further  into  the  interior.  The 
Welsh  met  with  a  slight  success  in  capturing  most  of  the 
king's  baggage.  Floods  also  aided  them,  cutting  off  Con- 
way  from  supplies,  so  that  we  are  informed  that  "  the  king 
with  all  his  followers  were  constrained  to  endure  a  great 
deal  of  hardships,  insomuch  that  at  last  water  mixed  with 
honey,  and  very  coarse  ordinary  bread,  with  the  saltest  meat, 
were  accounted  the  greatest  delicacies  for  his  Majesty's  own 
table."  Edward,  however,  won  the  admiration  of  his  followers 
by  sharing  with  them  the  rigours  of  the  campaign,  and  refused 
to  drink  a  bottle  of  wine  which  his  followers  had  carefully 
preserved  for  him,  saying  that  since  he  had  brought  them  to 
that  pass  it  was  but  right  to  suffer  equally  with  those  whom 
he  led.  At  last  the  floods  subsided,  Edward  was  joined  by 
his  mam  force,  and  the  Welsh,  realizing  that  further  resist- 
ance was  for  the  time  being  impossible,  avoided  further 
engagements.  Edward,  on  the  other  hand,  contented  himself 
with  cutting  down  many  of  the  woods  so  troublesome  to  an 
advancing  army,  and  with  building  the  castle  of  Beaumaris 
in  Anglesey  and  strengthening  and  fortifying  the  other  royal 
castles  in  Wales.1 

The  king  having  retired,  Madog  once  more  rose  in  revolt. 
He  succeeded  in  capturing  Oswestry  and  in  defeating  the 
forces  brought  against  him  by  I/ord  Strange.  At  last,  how- 
ever, William  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  had  already 
inflicted  heavy  loss  on  the  Welsh  by  adopting  tactics  then  new, 
but  later  destined  to  win  for  England  such  victories  as  Crecy 
and  Poitiers,  leading  the  marcher  forces,  met  and  decisively 
defeated  Madog  after  a  bloody  battle  fought  upon  the  hills  of 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  after  the  conquest  Edward  had  castled 
Snowdonia  and  North  Wales. 

3SS 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Cefn  Digoll,  near  Cemais  Castle.  The  Welsh  leader  was  cap- 
tured and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  and  with  the  dropping 
of  the  portcullis  of  that  historic  stronghold  behind  him  the 
last  great  insurrection  in  Wales  until  the  time  of  Owain 
Glyndwr  was  at  an  end. 

PEACE 

The  Welsh  now  commenced  to  settle  down  to  live  the  lives 
of  peaceful  citizens.  The  new  order  of  things  was  not  an 
unmixed  evil.  The  Statute  of  Rhuddlan  had  given  wide 
powers  to  the  sheriff  to  repress  crime.  We  read  that  he  was 
empowered  to  make  inquiry  into  very  many  offences,  from 
treason  to  those  committed  by  whittaws — i.e.  those  who 
whitened  hides  of  oxen  and  horses,  knowing  the  same  to  have 
been  stolen,  so  that  they  might  not  be  capable  of  identification— 
and  by  redubbers  of  stolen  clothes,  who  turned  stolen  costumes 
into  new  shapes  for  a  like  reason,  and  those  committed  by  men 
who  were  apparently  in  the  habit  of  stealing  pigeons  from 
dovecotes.  The  coroner  also  had  been  empowered  to  deal 
with  thieves,  manslayers,  and  other  malefactors,  for  we  read 
that  when  such  criminals  "  shall  fly  to  the  church,  the 
coroner,  as  soon  as  he  shall  be  certified  thereof,  shall  direct 
the  bailiff  of  our  lord  the  king  for  that  commote  to  cause  to 
come  before  him  at  a  certain  day  the  good  and  lawful  men  of 
the  neighbourhood  ;  and  in  their  presence,  after  recognition 
made  of  the  felony,  shall  cause  the  abjuration  to  be  made  in 
this  manner  :  That  the  felon  shall  be  brought  out  unto  the 
church  door,  and  a  seaport  shall  be  assigned  him  by  the 
coroner,  and  then  he  shall  abjure  the  realm ;  and,  according 
as  the  port  assigned  shall  be  far  or  near,  the  term  shall  be  set 
for  his  going  out  of  the  realm  aforesaid  :  So  that  in  journeying 
toward  that  port,  bearing  in  his  hand  a  cross,  he  shall  not  in 
any  manner  turn  out  of  the  king's  highway,  that  is  to  say, 
neither  upon  the  right  hand  nor  upon  the  left,  but  shall  always 
hold  to  the  same  until  he  shall  depart  the  realm." 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  and  like  ordinances  that  the 
English  Government  was  determined  to  repress  the  lawlessness 

356 


CONQUEST  TO   OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

for  which  Wales  had  for  years  been  notorious.  The  result  was 
soon  evident.  The  Welsh  quickly  found  that  the  new  state 
of  things  favoured  commerce,  and  the  people  that  in  the 
time  of  Giraldus  had  despised  trade  and  had  regarded  it  as 
unworthy  of  a  free  man  now  began  to  apply  themselves  to 
making  money.  The  period  was,  indeed,  one  of  great  ex- 
pansion in  the  world  of  business,  not  only  in  Wales,  but  in 
England  also.  Boroughs  were  becoming  common  ;  charters 
granting  fair  and  market  rights  are  found  by  the  hundred  in 
the  later  years  of  Edward  I  and  the  early  years  of  Edward  II's 
reign.  In  1299  the  statute  De  Falsa  Moneta  had  been  passed, 
and  letters  ordering  the  suppression  of  bad  coinage,  etc.,  had 
been  sent  to  all  the  sheriffs  of  England  and  to  others,  including 
Reginald  de  Grey,  Justice  of  Chester,  Walter  de  Pederton, 
Justice  of  North  Wales,  and  John  de  Havering,  Justice  of  West 
Wales.  Welsh  towns  were  receiving  grants  of  borough  rights 
throughout  the  fourteenth  century,  and  special  grants  were 
made  to  the  men  of  Harlech.  Caermarthen,  again,  had  been 
specially  favoured  from  much  earlier  times,  and  the  old 
privileges  were  confirmed. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected,  however,  that  a  conquered  country 
will  immediately  submit  to  the  commands  and  demands  of 
the  conqueror.  Throughout  the  early  years  of  Edward  II's 
reign  there  are  numerous  references  in  the  Calendar  of  Close 
Rolls  to  Wales,  many  of  them  being  directed  to  Roger  de 
Mortuo  Mari  (Mortimer),  Justice  of  Wales,  who  is  frequently 
ordered  to  see  that  the  king's  castles  in  Wales  are  fortified 
and  well  guarded.  We  also  find  him  (in  1309)  ordered  not  to 
appoint  Welshmen  to  fill  the  offices  of  sheriff  and  bailiff  if 
he  can  find  Englishmen.  The  Welsh  also  suffered  from  the 
marchers,  and  in  1316  we  find  the  men  of  Powys  flying  to 
Merioneth  on  account  of  the  dissensions  in  Powys  between 
John  de  Cherleton  and  his  wife  Hawise,  and  Griffin  de  la  Pole. 
In  the  main,  however,  the  years  following  the  rebellion  of 
Madog  had  been  quiet. 

In  1316  a  small  insurrection  broke  out  under  the  leadership 
of  Llywelyn  Bran.  In  February  of  that  year  we  read  of  the 

357 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

king  sending  Humphrey  de  Bohun,  Karl  of  Hereford  and 
Essex,  to  quell  the  rising  of  the  Welsh.  In  the  March  following 
we  have  an  order  addressed  to  Humphrey  directing  him  to 
cause  Llywelyn,  his  wife,  children,  and  others,  "  who  lately 
rose  against  the  king  in  Wales  and  then  surrendered,"  to  be 
taken  to  the  Tower  of  1/mdon.  Another  order  was  directed 
to  John  de  Crumbwell  (Cromwell),  Constable  of  the  Tower, 
"  to  receive  the  same  and  keep  them  safely."  The  rebellion, 
indeed,  had  been  of  less  importance  than  the  English  Govern- 
ment had  been  led  to  expect.  Orders  given  to  John  de  Grey 
and  John  de  Cherleton  to  aid  in  suppressing  the  rising  in 
Powys  were  countermanded  in  the  same  month,  the  opposition 
being  at  an  end.  The  Welsh  captives  seem  to  have  been  well 
treated.  Documents  exist  authorizing  the  payment  of  3^. 
a  day  to  L,lywelyn  Bran  and  I/eukina  his  wife  and  2d.  a  day 
to  his  sons  and  supporters  while  in  the  Tower. 

Apart  from  this  short-lived  rebellion  Wales  seems  to  have 
gradually  settled  down.  Edward  II  had  doubtless  many 
pleasant  memories  of  the  days  he  had  spent  as  prince  in  Wales 
and  on  the  borders.  His  reign  is  certainly  marked  by  many 
attempts  to  arrive  at  a  friendly  understanding  with  the  gallant 
little  country  of  the  west.  In  1321  we  find  orders  to  suppress 
risings  against  the  king  being  given,  not  to  Mortimers  or 
Greys,  but  to  Rhys  ap  Gruffydd  of  West  Wales  and  South 
Wales  and  to  Sir  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys  in  North  Wales.  In  1328, 
again,  we  have  a  reference  to  Master  Rhys  Appowel  (or  ap 
Howel),  who  is  described  as  "  the  late  king's  justice  in  South 
Wales  and  West  Wales,"  and  an  order  is  made  for  the  payment 
of  the  arrears  of  his  accustomed  fees  for  that  office. 

The  same  conciliatory  spirit  is  shown  in  the  review  of  the 
extents  made  during  Edward  II's  reign.  Even  the  villeins 
were  able  to  get  an  order  reducing  the  amounts  payable,  and 
in  1325  we  find  the  villeins  of  the  king's  manor  of  Penrhos  in 
Anglesey  getting  a  rebate  of  £21  75.  Q\d.,  John  de  Grey,  Justice 
of  North  Wales,  having  examined  into  the  matter  and  having 
found  that  the  villeins  of  that  manor  had  been  extended  at 
£48  gs.  if<Z.  instead  of  £27  2s.  i±d. 

358 


PLATE  U.    SEAL  OF  EDWARD,  PRINCE  OF  WALES 

(afterward  Edward  II  of  England)  358 


CONQUEST  TO   OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

Another  step  in  the  right  direction  was  taken  by  Edward  III 
when  he  extended  the  benefits  of  the  Statute  Staple  to  the 
merchants  of  Wales.  The  staple  towns  were,  of  course,  the 
great  centres  of  trade  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Nowhere 
save  at  these  towns  could  the  staple  products  of  England  and 
Wales  be  sold.  Neither  wool,  wool-fells,  leather,  nor  lead  could 
be  dealt  with  elsewhere  than  at  the  staple.  Staple  privileges 
were  thus  of  great  value.  In  1332  staple  towns  were  appointed 
at  Shrewsbury  and  Caermarthen  for  Wales.  Cardiff  was,  how- 
ever, not  granted  the  privilege,  though  it  has  sometimes  been 
said  that  it  was.  In  1354  another  step  was  taken.  By  the 
Ordinacio  Stapulamm  it  was  provided  that  "  Because  we 
well  perceive  that  merchants  strangers  do  not  come  so  com- 
monly into  .  .  .  Wales  for  to  merchandise  as  they  do  into 
England,  we  will  of  our  special  grace  that  it  shall  be  lawful 
to  the  people  of  ...  Wales,  which  cannot  utter  their  wools, 
leather,  wool-fells,  and  lead  in  ...  Wales  to  all  merchants 
strangers,  to  come  with  their  said  merchandises,  after  that 
they  be  customed  and  cocketed  in  ...  Wales,  to  any  of  our 
staples  in  England."  The  result  of  this  enlightened  treat- 
ment of  Wales  was  greatly  to  increase  the  worldly  wealth 
of  the  Principality,  and  although  there  were  bad  times  occa- 
sionally— as  in  1331,  when  there  was  such  a  famine  of  corn 
that  a  special  licence  was  granted  to  David  le  Palmer 
and  Hugh  le  Mareys  of  Bruggewater  (Bridgwater)  to  import 
500  quarters  of  corn  into  Wales,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
importation  of  corn  had  lately  been  forbidden — it  is  evident  that 
the  Welsh  were  settling  down  to  a  condition  of  tranquillity. 
There  is  no  sign  during  the  whole  of  the  fourteenth  century  of 
any  extensive  system  of  repressive  legislation  against  the  Welsh 
such  as  suddenly  meets  us  in  the  early  years  of  Henry  IV's 
reign. 

THE  BLACK  DEATH 

The  tide  of  prosperity  which  had  been  slowly  rising  received 
a  rude  set-back  by  the  dreadful  scourge  of  1349.  The  Black 
Death,  so  called  from  the  black  marks  which  are  the  sign  of 

359 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

the  bubonic  plague,  had  come  from  the  East,  following  the 
trade  routes.  As  early  as  1347  it  had  devastated  the  Levant. 
Italy  and  France  received  the  fatal  visitor  in  the  year  following. 
By  1349  it  was  ra£mg  in  eastern  England,  and  had  reached 
the  west  of  England  by  the  autumn  of  that  year.  In  Scotland 
it  was  unknown  until  1350,  and  an  army  had  assembled  to 
ravage  the  Border,  now  prostrated  by  the  disease.  The  raid 
never  took  place.  While  yet  assembled  the  blow  fell,  and  the 
soldiers  dwindled  away  plague-stricken  to  their  homes  and 
their  graves. 

In  Wales  the  pestilence  ravaged  the  country  from  end  to 
end.  Whole  villages  were  wiped  out,  and  there  is  evidence  to 
show  that  the  clergy  and  the  monastic  orders  were  especially 
attacked.  Some  authorities  consider  that  half  the  population 
fell  victims  to  the  disease,  and  although  this  may  perhaps  be 
regarded  as  an  exaggeration,  it  is  probable  that  one-third  of 
the  clergy,  the  monks,  and  the  peasants  died  of  the  plague. 
Churchyards  were  choked,  plague-pits  were  filled.  Clement  VI 
took  steps  to  enable  the  last  sacrament  to  be  administered  by 
persons  other  than  priests,  special  indulgences  were  granted, 
lay  confessors  were  permitted. 

The  results  of  this  frightful  visitation  were  immense.  The 
wealthy  men,  lords  of  land  and  magnates,  escaped  to  a  large 
extent.  The  labourers,  however,  were  greatly  reduced  in 
number.  Cattle  wandered  unattended ;  crops  were  left  to  rot 
in  the  fields ;  commodities  fell  as  the  demand  fell,  but  soon 
afterward,  although  food-stuffs  still  remained  cheap,  luxuries 
vastly  increased  in  price.  Wages  went  up  enormously. 

As  we  know,  the  answer  of  the  English  Government  was 
the  Statute  of  Labourers  and  its  various  amendments.  It 
was  found,  however,  impossible,  in  practice,  to  get  men  to 
work  on  the  old  terms.  The  villein's  position  was  immensely 
improved.  For  years  the  old  services  in  kind,  the  duty  of 
ploughing  so  many  acres  or  sowing  so  much  land,  had  been 
commuted  for  payment  in  money.  Now,  with  increased  wages, 
the  labourer  began  to  be  free.  No  longer  did  dull  poverty 
grind  him  down  as  in  the  past.  He  had  some  leisure.  No 
360 


CONQUEST    TO    OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

longer  was  it  necessary  to  toil  ceaselessly  to  keep  his  rude 
home  together.  With  increased  wealth,  with  increased 
leisure,  he  began  to  look  around;  he  ceased  to  be  an 
instrument  of  labour  and  became  something  of  an  intelligent 
being. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  monks  had  been  terribly  weakened 
by  the  plague.  Not  only  were  their  numbers  largely  reduced, 
but  their  wealth  was  also  decreased.  Land  dropped  in  value, 
and  with  it  rents.  One  great  result  of  this  weakening  of 
the  monastic  power  was  a  wonderful  quickening  of  religious 
thought.  It  may  be  that  the  years  when  men  had  looked  on 
Death  had  caused  this  increase  in  religious  fervour ;  it  may  be 
that  the  monks,  who  in  many  cases  in  the  fourteenth  century 
had  fallen  so  far  from  the  earlier  and  purer  types,  had  acted 
as  a  check  upon  religious  feeling.  It  is  certain  that  after  the 
Black  Death  Wales  experienced  a  revival  both  in  religion  and 
in  poetry. 

THE  POETS  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

So  great  was  the  increase  in  poetic  feeling  that  the  history 
of  Wales  during  the  latter  half  of  this  century  may  almost  be 
said  to  be  the  history  of  its  poets.  They  exercised  a  great 
influence.  They  were  the  enemies  of  the  priests,  but  not  of 
religion.  Christianity  is  a  great  enough,  a  wide  enough 
philosophy  to  embrace  many  creeds  and  classes  of  people. 
The  poets  who  sang  of  love,  love  of  nature  and  love  of  life — 
and  love  of  woman — were  not  the  Antichrists  that  the  clergy 
would  insist  on  regarding  them  as  being.  The  quickening  of 
thought  which  came  from  the  singers  woke  man  once  more 
from  the  lethargy  into  which  he  had  fallen.  Some  writers 
have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  trace  to  the  poets  of  this  period 
the  commencement  of  the  Renaissance.  Thus  Heckethorn 
has  said  that  "  it  appears  reasonable  to  consider  the  trouba- 
dours as  the  originators  of  that  vast  conspiracy  directed 
against  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  champions  of  a  revolt  which 
had  not  for  its  guide  and  object  material  interests  and  vulgar 
ambitions,  but  a  religion  and  a  polity  of  Love." 

361 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

DAVYDD  AP  GWILYM 

The  great  troubadour  of  Wales  was  certainly  Davydd  ap 
Gwilym.  Born  near  Llanbadarn  Fawr,  or  it  may  be  near 
Llandaff,  in  Glamorganshire,  he  came  of  gentle  parents,  and 
received  an  excellent  education  abroad,  acquiring,  among  other 
accomplishments,  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Italian.  On  his 
return  to  his  native  country  he  acted  as  tutor  to  the  daughter 
of  Ivor  Hael  of  Maesaleg.  He  seems  to  have  played  Abelard  to 
her  Heloise.  The  result,  however,  was  less  unfortunate  to  him, 
though  his  lady-love  was  compelled  to  retire  to  a  convent  in 
Anglesey.  This  was  not  his  only  experience  in  light  dalliance. 
He  has,  indeed,  been  likened  to  Petrarch,  for  throughout  the 
remainder  of  his  life  we  find  him  addressing  odes  to  Morvydd, 
as  Petrarch  did  to  Laura.  To  this  lady  he  wrote  some  147 
poems,  and  eventually  his  sweet  singing  induced  her  to  elope 
with  him.  As  a  result  of  this  escapade  he  was  caught  and 
imprisoned,  but  was  later  ransomed  by  the  men  of  Glamorgan. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Davydd's  life  was  by  no  means 
perfect,  and  it  is  not  to  the  dishonour  of  the  Church  that  the 
clergy  were  in  frequent  conflict  with  him.  But  that  he  was 
a  man  of  noble  mind,  apart  from  the  weaknesses  already 
mentioned,  cannot  be  disputed. 

As  a  troubadour  he  is,  of  course,  worthy  of  a  high  place 
in  any  literature.  Nor  did  he  limit  himself  to  songs  of  love. 
Nature  also  shared  his  heart.  When  he  sings  of  summer— 

Thou  Summer  !  father  of  delight, 
With  thy  dense  spray  and  thickets  deep  ; 
Gemmed  monarch,  with  thy  rapturous  light 
Rousing  thy  subject  glens  from  sleep  ! 

And  thus  mid  all  thy  radiant  flowers, 
Thy  thickening  leaves  and  glossy  bowers, 
The  poet's  task  shall  be  to  glean 
Roses  and  flowers  that  softly  bloom 
(The  jewels  of  the  forest's  gloom  !), 
And  trefoils  wove  in  pavement  green, 
With  sad  humility  to  grace 
His  golden  Ivor's  resting-place  * 

1  Referring  to  the  custom  of  placing  flowers  on  the  graves  of  the  dead. 
362 


CONQUEST  TO    OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

—we  forgive  him  his  folly  and  wonder  at  the  narrowness  of 
the  anchorite  of  Llanddewi  Brevi,  who,  when  speaking  of  the 
bards  of  whom  Davydd  ap  Gwilym  was  a  worthy  example, 
wrote  :  "  With  all  their  might  they  serve  the  devil."  It  is, 
indeed,  curious  with  what  hatred  the  monk  and  the  bard 
regarded  one  another  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  rivalry  had,  it  is  true,  existed  from 
early  times,  but  it  was  only  now  that  the  two  parties  were 
in  such  violent  opposition.  Now  the  poets  were  accusing  the 
priests  of  cloaking  religion  in  a  mourner's  garb ;  of  denying 
to  man  the  right  to  rejoice  in  the  beauty  of  nature  ;  of 
chaining  men's  minds  to  a  critical  and  narrow  creed.  The 
monks,  humane  Franciscan  as  well  as  Dominican,  replied  with 
bitterness  that  the  bard's  passion  was  for  earthly  things,  for 
earthly  beauties  and  for  earthly  joys.  It  was  the  old  conflict 
between  joyousness  and  austerity.  But  though  it  was  old  and 
unending,  it  is  strange  that  it  was  in  this  period  that  it  became 
so  vocal  and  so  bitter.  It  is  stranger  when  we  remember  that 
it  was  Davydd  ap  Gwilym  and  no  monk  who  wrote  : 

On  Sunday,  sacred  holiday  ! 

As,  late  at  eve,  I  stayed  to  pray 

(By  the  bright  lamps  that  light  that  shrine) 

To  God,  and  to  His  orders  nine, 

In  yonder  church,  that,  to  my  eyes, 

Appears  a  second  Paradise.  .  .  . 

Davydd  ap  Gwilym,  though  the  greatest  of  the  fourteenth- 
century  Welsh  poets  and  the  one  who  rightly  won  the  title  of 
chief  bard  of  Glamorgan,  was  not  the  only  singer  who  enriched 
Welsh  literature  about  this  time.  Other  notable  names  were 
those  of  Gruffydd  Llwyd,  chief  bard  to  Owain  Glyndwr ; 
Ithel  Ddii  ;  Mabelav  ap  lylywarch  ;  Howel  Ystoryn  ;  Y  Ystus 
Llwyd  ;  Trahaearn  Brydydd  Mawr,  or  '  Trahaearn  the  noted 
bard  ' ;  and,  last  and  chief est,  lolo  Goch. 

IOLO  GOCH 

This  poet,  whose  real  name  was  Edward  Llwyd,  was  of 
noble  birth,  being  lord  of  I^lechryd  and,  according  to  Gruffydd 

363 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Hiraelliog,  the  son  of  the  Countess  of  Lincoln.  Although,  as 
many  think,  much  inferior  to  Davydd  ap  Gwilym,  he  was 
certainly  a  poet  of  distinction,  and  at  the  last  of  the  "  three 
Eisteddfods  of  the  Renaissance  "  of  Welsh  literature,  a  meeting 
held  under  the  patronage  of  Roger  Mortimer,  first  Earl  of 
March,  and  presided  over  by  Davydd  ap  Gwilym,  he  was 
made  a  chaired  bard. 

Some  writers  have  described  him  as  Owain  Glyndwr's 
family  bard,  but  he  was  in  truth  the  friend  rather  than  the 
dependent  of  that  great  Welshman.  Yet,  although  the  equal 
of  Owain  in  birth,  that  patriot's  prowess  as  a  fighter  and  genius 
as  a  leader  of  men  caused  the  poet  to  look  up  to  him  as  a 
master,  so  that  we  find  him  writing  : 

My  Lord  supreme,  of  high  descent, 
To  minstrels  most  munificent, 
Can  welcome  still,  nor  deem  it  hard, 
A  crooked,  old,  decrepid  bard. 

Most  of  the  poems  of  lolo  that  have  come  down  to  us  are 
patriotic  or  devotional,  but  he  has  also  given  us  an  excellent 
descriptive  piece  recounting  the  manifold  beauties  of  his 
friend's  mansion  at  Sycharth  and  the  hospitality  to  be  found 
therein. 

SIR  JOHN  GOWER 

There  was  another  poet  writing  in  another  language  who 
must  not  be  forgotten.  Sir  John  Gower,  who  flourished  in 
the  reign  of  Richard  II,  though  a  native  of  Gwyr,  in  South 
Wales,  was  among  the  first  to  show  that  English  could  be 
made  the  vehicle  of  poetry.  His  rhymes,  such  as, 

He  taught  her  till  she  was  certayne 

Of  Harp,  Citole,  and  of  Kiote, 

With  many  a  tewne,  and  many  a  note, 

compare  ill  with  the  Welshmen's  polished  verses,  but  he  helped 
to  plant  the  tree  which,  tended  by  Chaucer,  flourished  so 
wonderfully  under  the  Elizabethans. 

364 


CONQUEST  TO    OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

THE  PEASANTS 

We  have  already  touched  upon  the  Black  Death  and  seen 
how  wages  rose  and  rents  fell.  We  have  also  seen  how  in  some 
ways  the  position  of  the  labourers  was  improved  by  that 
scourge — that  is  to  say,  in  Wales.  As  late  as  Elizabeth's 
reign  we  find  Parliament  referring  to  the  immense  decrease 
in  rents  consequent  on  this  plague,  and  it  is  evident  that  the 
peasants  in  many  cases  became  small  tenant  farmers  at  very 
much  reduced  rents. 

It  is  convenient  here  to  consider  what  had  happened  to  the 
land  after  the  Statute  of  Rhuddlan.  Before  the  Edwardian 
conquest  we  know  that  the  Welsh  held  land  by  tribal  rather 
than  individual  ownership.  When  Edward  turned  North 
Wales  into  a  huge  royal  demesne  portioned  out  by  successive 
gifts  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  or,  failing  such  grants,  remain- 
ing in  the  king,  the  principle  of  individual  ownership  was 
established.  The  old  chiefs  became  tenants  in  fee-simple, 
holding  by  a  form  of  tenure  similar  to  gavelkind.  As  time 
went  on  they  became  very  like  lords  of  manors,  with  under- 
tenants holding  by  copyhold.  With  regard  to  the  villeins  the 
position  was  more  difficult.  They  had  for  centuries  occupied 
small  plots  of  land  or  little  farms  in  return  for  services  rendered 
to  the  Welsh  chiefs.  Even  before  the  Edwardian  conquest 
and  long  before  the  Black  Death  the  tendency  had  been  for 
these  services  to  be  commuted  for  payments  in  money.  The 
villeins  or  peasants  had  thus  become  for  all  practical  purposes 
small  tenant  farmers  paying  a  yearly  or  quarterly  rent  for 
their  holding,  sometimes  in  money,  sometimes  in  kind,  but 
comparatively  and  increasingly  rarely  in  services.  After 
the  conquest  a  genuine  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made 
to  keep  the  old  system  on  substantially  without  alteration. 
The  old  payments  were  continued  and  tenants  were  not 
disturbed. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  peasants  as  being  practically  tenants 
at  a  rent — that  is  to  say,  leaseholders.  They  were,  however, 
in  rather  a  better  position  than  this.  In  many  cases  they 

365 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

and  their  ancestors  had  occupied  the  same  holdings  for  many 
years,  sometimes  for  centuries.  They  paid,  it  is  true,  a  rent, 
but  in  many  cases  it  was  a  small  rent,  almost  a  nominal  one. 
Their  tenure  was  regarded  as  more  or  less  fixed.  They  had 
what  we  may  perhaps  describe  as  a  perpetually  renewable 
lease  at  a  low  rent. 

Another  change  seems  to  have  come  with  the  Black  Death. 
As  Professor  Tout  says  (speaking  of  England — the  same  holds 
for  Wales)  :  "  Rents  fell  heavily.  I/andlords  found  that  they 
could  only  retain  their  tenants  by  wholesale  remissions. 
When  farmers  perished  of  the  plague  it  was  often  impossible 
to  find  others  to  take  up  their  farms.  It  was  even  harder  for 
lords  who  farmed  their  own  demesne,  to  provide  themselves 
with  the  necessary  labour.  Hired  labourers  could  not  be 
obtained  except  at  ruinous  rates.  It  was  injudicious  to  press 
for  the  strict  performance  of  villein  services,  lest  the  villein 
should  turn  recalcitrant  and  leave  his  holding.  The  lord 
preferred  to  commute  his  villein's  service  into  a  small  payment. 
On  the  whole  the  best  solution  of  the  difficulty  was  for  him  to 
abandon  the  ancient  custom  of  farming  his  demesne  through 
his  bailiff,  and  to  let  out  his  lands  on  such  rents  as  he  could 
get  to  tenant  farmers."  The  result  was  a  great  increase  in 
the  number  of  small  holders,  and  a  still  further  reduction  of  the 
rents  payable.  In  some  cases,  in  Wales,  it  would  appear  that 
the  rents  had  dropped  so  that  with  the  lessening  of  the  value  of 
money  in  the  succeeding  centuries  the  leasehold  nature  of  the 
holding  began  to  be  forgotten,  the  nominal  rents  were  unpaid, 
and  the  villeins  began  to  regard  themselves  as  freeholders,  or, 
at  worst,  copyholders.  This  claim  was  eventually,  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  decided  to  be  bad  in  law,  and  the  villeins 
were  then  granted  renewable  occupation  leases  of  twenty-one 
years  at  a  fixed  rental. 

From  what  we  have  said  it  will  be  seen  that  the  latter  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century  was  a  time  of  liberation  for  the  serf. 
The  Golden  Age  for  labour  was,  of  course,  prevented  in  England 
by  the  repressive  statutes  dealing  with  the  labour  question — 
statutes  which  finally  resulted  in  the  rebellion  of  1381  In 
366 


CONQUEST  TO    OWAIN   GLYNDWR 

Wales,  however,  it  is  not  at  all  clear  that  this  period  did  not 
see  an  improvement  in  the  lot  of  the  labourer. 

It  is,  however,  quite  certain  that,  whether  his  status  or 
financial  position  was  improved  or  not,  the  years  following 
the  Death  were  years  of  grave  discontent,  both  in  England  and 
Wales.  It  must  not  be  imagined  that  discontent  connotes 
grievances.  To-day  the  position  of  the  working  classes,  both 
from  a  financial  and  a  social  point  of  view,  is  better  than  it  has 
been  for  centuries,  but  education  has  increased  their  needs 
more  rapidly  than  wealth  has  made  the  fulfilment  of  those 
needs  possible.  The  result  has  been  a  decade  of  unexampled 
discontent.  It  was,  we  believe,  much  the  same  at  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  century  in  Wales.  The  old  serf,  the  slave 
attached  to  land,  the  villein  bound  down  to  rustic  services, 
had  gone  ;  the  peasant  holding  his  land  at  a  low  rental,  or 
tilling  the  soil  at  an  adequate  rate,  had  come.  New  means  of 
earning  money  had  arisen.  Bowmen  and  pikemen,  mer- 
cenaries in  all  capacities  for  service  in  the  French  wars,  were 
eagerly  sought  after.  Wages  considerably  in  excess  of  those 
paid  in  the  previous  century  were  being  demanded  and  given. 
But,  comparative  prosperity  notwithstanding,  Wales,  like 
England,  seethed  with  discontent.  The  I,ollard  taught  the 
equality  of  man.  John  Ball  in  Essex,  speaking  for  the  villeins, 
could  say  :  "  How  can  the  gentry  show  that  they  are  greater 
lords  than  we  ?  "  Richard  Rolle  *  had  already  asked  : 

When  Adam  delf  and  Eve  span,  spir,  if  them  will  spede, 
Whare  was  then  the  pride  of  man,  that  now  marres  his  mede  ? 

Wales  was  not  backward  in  the  I/>llard  movement.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  century  John  Oldcastle,  afterward  Sir  John, 
the  Ivollard  martyr,  was  castellan  of  Kidwelly  Castle.  Walter 
Brute,  one  of  the  greatest  of  Wyclif's  followers,  was  preaching 
the  new  faith  in  the  marcher  lands. 

When  dealing  with  the  prevailing  discontent  we  do  not  find 
the  old  chroniclers  talking  of  the  misery,  but  rather  of  the 
greediness  of  the  poor.  In  truth  it  was  neither.  The  oppressed 

*Died  1349. 

367 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

were  beginning  to  break  their  bonds.  Freedom  to  think, 
freedom  from  serfdom,  more  money,  more  leisure — these  were 
the  claims  common  to  England  and  Wales.  Meetings  were 
held,  unions  of  labourers  formed.  The  wage-earner  was  for  a 
time  in  a  commanding  position,  and  a  semblance  of  general 
equality  seemed  almost  within  his  reach.  When  the  bubble 
burst,  when  it  was  at  last  perceived  that  men  were  not  equal 
and  that  the  toilers  must  still  toil  and  the  ignorant  still  listen 
to  preachers  who  spoke  a  language  they  did  not  understand, 
when  it  was  found  that  knowledge  was  still  denied  them — 
then  the  peasants  rose.  The  rising  was  wisely  timed.  England 
was  convulsed  with  a  dynastic  struggle  which  eventually 
placed  Henry  of  I^ancaster  upon  the  throne.  It  was  fortunate 
for  Wales  that  at  that  time  a  man  of  very  considerable  ability 
was  ready  to  come  forward  and  turn  what  might  have  been  a 
mere  rising  of  labourers  into  a  national  movement  which,  on 
the  whole,  we  believe,  was  for  the  benefit  of  Wales.  That 
Owain  Glyndwr  was  a  national  hero,  then,  is  evident.  Such  a 
strong  impression  did  he  make  on  the  minds  of  his  countrymen 
that  even  to-day  the  majority  of  Welshmen  would  choose  him 
as  the  greatest  leader  of  the  Welsh  their  country  has  ever 
produced. 


368 


CHAPTER  XXI 
OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

OWAIN  AP  GRUFFYDD,  lord  of  Glyndyvrdwy,1  or 
Glyndwr,  was  of  princely  blood,  being  descended  on 
the  paternal  side  from  Bleddyn  ap  Cynvyn.  Born 
about  1359 — f°r  we  nnd  him  referred  to  as  being  twenty-seven 
years  of  age  when  he  appeared  as  a  witness  in  the  famous 
Scrope  and  Grosvenor  lawsuit  in  1386 — he  was  the  son  of  a 
Welsh  squire  of  respectable  fortune.  The  major  portion  of 
his  estates  lay  in  the  north  around  Sycharth,  the  family  seat 
so  eloquently  described  by  lolo  Goch,  but  when  he  entered 
into  his  patrimony  he  also  had  the  manors  of  Yscoed  and 
Gwynionedd  in  South  Wales. 

The  place  of  his  birth  cannot  be  fixed  with  certainty,  but 
tradition  has  it  that  he  was  born  at  Trefgarn  Owain.  It  is 
believed  that  he  was  educated  at  Oxford,  the  university  to 
which,  perhaps,  the  majority  of  Welshmen  desiring  to  read  at 
the  older  universities  have  at  all  times  gone.  It  is  certain  that 
after  completing  his  general  education  he  read  law  at  West- 
minster, and  was,  perhaps,  called  to  the  Bar.  Later  he  became 
something  of  a  courtier,  and  acted  as  squire  to  Arundel, 
according  to  Capgrave.  He  was  thus  by  no  means  the  rude, 
uncultivated  leader  of  peasants  that  some  of  the  older  Saxon 
authorities  would  have  us  believe.  Shakespeare  rightly  sums 
up  the  quality  of  his  mind  when  he  makes  Mortimer  say  : 

In  faith,  he  is  a  worthy  gentleman, 
Exceedingly  well  read,  and  profited 
In  strange  concealments,  valiant  as  a  lion 
And  wondrous  affable,  and  as  bountiful 
As  mines  of  India. 

1  Pronounced  in  English  '  Glendourdee.' 

2  A  369 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

And  again  when  he  puts  in  Glyndwr's  own  mouth  the 
words : 

I  was  trained  up  in  the  English  Court, 
Where,  being  but  young,  I  framed  to  the  harp 
Many  an  English  ditty  lovely  well. 

Throughout  Glyndwr's  life  some  thought  him  possessed  of 
magic  power.  Even  his  birth  was  supposed  to  have  been 
signalled  by  strange  occurrences,  as  we  find  him  saying  in 
Henry  IV  (Part  I)  : 

At  my  nativity 

The  front  of  heaven  was  full  of  fiery  shapes, 

Of  burning  cressets  ;  and  at  my  birth 

The  frame  and  huge  foundation  of  the  earth 

Shak'd  like  a  coward.'. 

Many  of  his  later  victories  were,  indeed,  set  down  by  the 
English  to  magic,  and  he  was  credited  with  the  power  of 
making  himself  invisible  at  will. 

While  yet  a  young  man  (in  1385)  we  find  him  serving  in  the 
Scottish  campaign  of  Richard  II,  but  shortly  afterward  he 
seems  to  have  taken  service  with  Henry  of  I/ancaster.  He 
was  from  an  early  period  of  his  life  an  enemy  of  I/>rd  Grey 
of  Ruthin,  one  of  his  most  powerful  neighbours,  and  in  1401 
he  is  supposed  to  have  appealed  to  Parliament  against  that 
lord's  encroachments  on  his  land,  but  the  date  is  an  improbable 
one  and  there  is  no  mention  of  the  fact  on  the  Rolls.  It  is 
not  probable  that  he  was  on  unfriendly  terms  either  with 
Mortimer  or  Earl  Warren.  The  latter  had,  indeed,  been 
responsible  for  the  return  of  the  Glyndyvrdwy  lands  to  the 
uncle  of  the  two  youths  I^lywelyn  and  Gruffydd,  popularly 
supposed  to  have  been  drowned  by  their  guardians,  Warren 
and  Mortimer.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  belated  act  of 
repentance  that  Owain  eventually  inherited  that  property. 

The  uncle  above  referred  to,  by  name  Gruffydd  Vychan,  was, 
of  course,  Owain's  father,  and  upon  his  death  Owain  entered 
upon  the  patrimony  and  became  a  wealthy  squire.  He  seems 
to  have  been,  like  most  Welshmen,  extremely  hospitable,  and 
his  house,  Sycharth,  became  noted  as  a  meeting-place  for 
bards,  where  the  wandering  minstrels  were  always  sure  to 
370 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

find  meat  and  drink  in  plenty  and  lodging  suited  to  their 
quality. 

Throughout  his  early  years  it  is  apparent  that  he  was 
friendly  with  the  English.  We  have  already  seen  that  he  was 
a  follower  of  Richard  II,  and  later  of  Arundel  and  Henry  of 
Lancaster.  He  was  also  connected  by  ties  of  blood  with  the 
English  family  of  I/Estrange,  of  Knockin,  near  Oswestry,  and 
had  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  David  Hanmer,  one  of 
Richard's  Justices  of  the  King's  Bench.  Most  of  his  many 
daughters  married  into  noble  or  gentle  English  or  marcher 
families.  It  was  not,  indeed,  until  he  was  over  forty  years  of 
age  that  we  find  him  in  opposition  to  the  English  Government. 
It  may  be  that  the  trouble  with  I^ord  Grey  of  Ruthin  was  the 
spark  which  fired  the  tinder.  It  may  be  that  the  disgrace  he 
fell  into  with  the  English  king  in  consequence  of  his  failure 
to  obey  the  summons  to  take  part  in  the  Scottish  expedition 
of  1400 — a  disgrace  which  was  not  merited,  since  his  enemy 
I/ord  Grey,  who  had  been  entrusted  with  the  summons,  failed 
to  deliver  it  until  too  late — caused  him  to  rebel.  He  certainly 
retaliated  by  plundering  Grey's  estates  and  putting  to  death 
some  of  his  household.  In  our  opinion,  however,  it  was  not 
until  the  passing  of  statute  2  Henry  IV,  c.  12,  that  Glyndwr's 
rebellion  can  be  regarded  as  a  national  movement. 

It  is  well  known  that  before  the  final  success  of  Henry 
Bolingbroke  which  resulted  in  his  becoming  Henry  IV  the 
Welsh  as  a  nation  were  keen  partisans  of  Richard  II.  It 
shows  Glyndwr's  early  English  sympathies  that  he  is  found 
on  the  side  of  Henry  and  the  English  popular  party.  In  so 
acting  he  was  flying  in  the  face  of  the  mass  of  Welsh  opinion 
and  was  far  from  being  a  leader  of  the  Welsh  peasantry.  His 
troubles  with  I^ord  Grey  and  Henry  seem  to  have  resulted 
in  a  change  of  views.  He  would,  however,  have  been,  we 
believe,  quite  impotent  as  a  national  leader  unless  there  had 
been  some  great  and  new  grievance  which  called  for  redress. 
At  the  time  of  his  outburst  he  was  a  squire  of  moderate  fortune 
and  nothing  more.  Wales,  however,  was  crying  aloud  for  a 
leader,  discontent  among  the  peasants  was  rife,  and  matters 

371 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

came  to  a  head  with  the  passing  of  the  Statulum  de  anno 
secundo.  This  statute  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  measures 
intended  to  repress  the  Welsh  people.  It  debarred  Welshmen 
born  in  Wales  or  having  parents  born  in  Wales  from  purchasing 
land  or  tenements  within  the  boroughs  of  Chester,  Shrews- 
bury, Bridgnorth,  I,udlow,  Leominster,  Hereford,  Gloucester, 
Worcester,  or  other  merchant  towns.  No  such  Welshman 
could  henceforth  be  chosen  citizen  or  burgess  in  any  of  these 
places.  Welshmen  dwelling  there  were  required  to  find 
surety  for  good  behaviour,  and  were  forbidden  to  wear  armour 
within  the  precinct  of  the  said  towns.  The  Act  also  contained, 
of  course,  strict  clauses  directed  against  Bollards  preaching 
or  teaching  or  writing  books.  These  provisions  were  followed 
by  others  requiring  the  lyords  Marchers  to  keep  sufficient 
"  stuffing  and  ward  "  in  their  castles  and  seigneuries ;  provid- 
ing that  no  "  whole  Englishman  "  should  henceforth  be  con- 
victed at  the  suit  of  any  Welshman  within  Wales  ;  debarring 
Welshmen  from  purchasing  lands  anywhere  in  England. 

In  1402  another  measure  was  passed,  this  time  directed 
against  the  bards  who  up  and  down  Wales  had  been  rousing 
their  countrymen  to  resistance.  By  an  ordinance  passed  in 
that  year  it  was  commanded  that "  no  waster,  rhymer,  minstrel, 
nor  vagabond  be  in  any  wise  sustained  in  the  land  of  Wales 
to  make  commorthies  *  or  gathering  upon  the  common  people 
there."  These  provisions  were  ostensibly  enacted  "  to  eschew 
many  diseases  and  mischief,  which  have  happened  before  this 
time  in  the  land  of  Wales  "  by  reason  of  the  aforesaid  '  wasters,' 
etc.,  but  it  is  clear  that  it  was  the  bards'  patriotic  lays  which 
were  troubling  Henry.  This  same  year  saw  the  enactment 
of  many  other  laws  against  the  Welsh.  They  were  forbidden 
to  hold  meetings  or  councils  ;  to  bear  armour  ;  to  have  or 
keep  or  hold  castles,  fortresses,  or  houses  defensive ;  to  act  as 
justice,  chamberlain,  chancellor,  treasurer,  sheriff,  steward, 
constable  of  castle,  receiver,  escheator,  coroner,  chief  forester, 
or  in  any  other  public  office.  Englishmen  married  to  Welsh- 

1  A  collection  frequently  made  at  marriages  or  on  other  occasions  when  many 
people  were  assembled. 
372 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

women  were  likewise  debarred  from  holding  office,  and  the 
English  were  forbidden  to  import  victuals  or  armour  into 
Wales. 

Of  course,  before  most  of  these  laws  had  been  passed  Wales 
was  openly  in  arms  against  England.  It  is  instructive  to 
observe  that  the  flame  first  burst  forth  in  North  and  Mid  Wales, 
and  we  agree  with  '  Owen  Rhoscomyl '  that  in  those  districts 
the  rising  was  probably  more  political  than  social.  When  the 
South  joined  in  later  on  they  were  doubtless  actuated  by 
social  rather  than  political  reasons.  They  were  mainly 
peasants  and  labourers  who  wished  to  better  their  lot  as 
against  the  landowners,  whether  English  or  Welsh.  They 
were  Owain's  '  starvelings.'  But  it  was  not  to  these  that 
Owain's  followers  were  limited.  He  must  have  had  Wales 
solidly  behind  him  for  his  depredations  to  have  been 
tolerated  by  his  own  countrymen.  It  was  not  merely  the 
social  unrest  which  was  responsible  for  the  spread  of  the 
revolt,  it  was  not  merely  the  oppression  of  the  seigneurial 
jurisdictions,  it  was  certainly  not  Owain's  private  grievances 
against  I/ord  Grey.  Of  the  many  causes  which  were  at  work 
we  cannot  ignore  the  Welsh  sympathy  for  Richard  and  the 
repressive  measures  of  Henry's  early  years.  These  may  not 
have  lit  the  fire,  but  they  fanned  the  flames. 

OWAIN  IN  ARMS 

It  was  in  1400  that  Owain  first  took  up  arms.  As  we  have 
said,  his  first  steps  were  taken  against  Lord  Grey.  He  recovered 
the  lands  of  which  he  had  been  dispossessed.  This  was  in  the 
summer  of  that  year.  Lords  Talbot  and  Grey  marched  against 
him,  and  though  at  first  they  succeeded  in  surprising  him  he 
escaped,  raised  a  force,  proclaimed  himself  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  by  the  end  of  September  had  plundered  and  burnt  to  the 
ground  Ruthin  town  while  the  fair  was  being  held  there. 

Henry  now  deemed  it  necessary  to  march  in  person  against 
Owain.  He  quickly  penetrated  as  far  as  Anglesey,  and 
plundered  Llanvaes  Convent,  of  the  Franciscan  order.  Mean- 
while Owain,  realizing  that  he  was  not  powerful  enough  to 

373 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

cross  swords  with  Henry,  had  retired  to  the  hills  of  Eryri. 
Owain's  rebellion  was  treated  as  a  cause  of  forfeiture  of  his 
estate,  and  his  lands  were  granted  to  John,  Earl  of  Somerset 
— who,  however,  would  have  adventured  his  life  had  he 
attempted  to  take  them. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  Henry  made  an  effort  to  gather 
to  his  standard  all  the  Welsh  who  would  make  submission  to 
his  son  Henry  at  Chester.  Owain  meanwhile  was  not  idle. 
Though  few  Welshmen  hurried  to  Chester,  many  Welshmen 
came  from  England — students  from  Oxford,  and  men  of  all 
classes  from  all  parts  of  the  country — to  join  the  movement. 
The  year  1401  was  to  some  extent  favourable  for  a  successful 
rising.  Henry  was  threatened  by  both  France  and  the  Scots. 
Feeling  his  weakness,  Henry  is  found  issuing  pardons  to  the 
Welsh  concerned  in  the  later  rising,  Owain  and  certain  other 
leaders  alone  being  excepted.  The  insurrection,  however,  had 
gone  too  far  to  be  checked  so  easily.  By  the  summer  Owain 
had  gathered  a  small  army  around  him  on  Mount  Plinlimmon, 
from  which  vantage-ground  he  plundered  the  surrounding 
country.  Welshpool  was  sacked  and  burnt,  the  abbey  of 
Cwm  Hir,  in  Radnorshire,  was  destroyed,  and  Radnor  Castle 
taken,  the  whole  garrison  of  sixty  men  being  beheaded  on  the 
edge  of  the  castle  yard. 

The  Flemings  of  Pembrokeshire  had  also  suffered.  They 
replied  by  collecting  1500  men,  with  whom  they  succeeded  in 
completely  surrounding  Owain's  much  less  numerous  force. 
Owain's  men,  however,  knowing  that  they  could  expect  no 
mercy,  fought  for  their  very  lives.  Hurling  themselves 
against  the  weakest  part  of  the  encircling  forces,  they  broke 
through  the  Flemings'  ranks,  and  finally  compelled  them  to 
retire,  leaving  200  dead  on  the  field. 

Henry,  seeing  that  Owain  was  becoming  a  menace  again, 
now  led  his  troops  into  Wales.  After  ravaging  the  country 
and  destroying  Ystrad  Fflur  Abbey  he  was  compelled  by 
famine  to  retire.  It  is  in  connexion  with  this  campaign  that 
Pennant  tells  the  story  of  the  Welshman  who,  as  he  says, 
"  having  made  a  rash  promise  to  the  king  to  betray  Glyndwr, 

374 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

refused  afterward  to  perform  it ;  and,  eagerly  stretching  out 
his  neck  to  the  headsman,  told  him  to  strike,  for  that  he  had 
two  sons  at  that  time  in  the  service  of  his  chieftain  ;  therefore 
would  on  no  account  reveal  his  councils."  There  were,  how- 
ever, traitors  among  the  Welsh.  In  the  year  following  we 
read  of  how,  while  Owain  and  his  cousin  Howel  Sele,  of  Nannau, 
in  Merionethshire,  were  walking  together  after  a  conference  at 
which  they  had  attempted  to  settle  their  grievances,  Owain, 
seeing  a  doe  feeding,  pointed  it  out  to  Howel,  who  was  a 
splendid  archer.  Howel,  bending  his  bow  and  pretending  to 
take  aim  at  the  doe,  suddenly  turned  upon  Owain  and  shot 
the  arrow  straight  at  his  breast.  The  traitorous  deed  was, 
however,  ineffective.  Owain  was  protected  by  a  coat  of  mail 
worn  beneath  his  clothes.  What  happened  to  Howel  no  man 
knows,  but  four  decades  later  the  skeleton  of  a  man  of  about 
his  size  was  found  not  far  from  the  spot  in  the  hollow  of  a 
mighty  oak. 

It  was  some  time  before  this  attempt  on  Owain's  life  by  his 
kinsman  that  Lord  Grey  had  raised  an  army  against  Owain. 
A  battle  was  fought  at  Vyrnwy,  or,  according  to  some,  at  Ruthin. 
The  result  was  the  defeat  and  capture  of  Grey.  He  was 
eventually  ransomed  by  the  payment  of  6000  marks,  and 
appears  to  have  been  forced  into  a  marriage  with  Owain's 
daughter,  Jane. 

Glyndwr's  next  success  was  against  Sir  Edmund  Mortimer, 
over  whom  he  gained  a  victory  in  the  June  of  1402.  Owain 
was  now  free  to  ravage  Herefordshire  and  South  Wales. 
During  these  raids  the  lands  of  Edmund's  young  nephew, 
Edward  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  suffered  greatly.  At  last 
Edmund  was  forced  to  collect  another  army  in  order  to  attempt 
to  lay  Owain  by  the  heels.  The  forces  met  at  Bryn-glas,  and 
the  Welsh  leader  was  again  victorious.  Well  might  Gruffydd 
Llwyd,  Owain's  chief  bard,  sing  : 

Cambria's  princely  eagle,  hail  1 

Of  Gruffydd  Vychan's  noble  blood  1 
Thy  high  renown  shall  never  fail, 

Owain  Glyndwr,  great  and  good. 

375 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

It  was  after  this  victory  that,  according  to  Thomas  de 
Walsingham  and  Holinshed,  the  mutilations  were  practised  by 
Welshwomen  of  which  Shakespeare  speaks.  There  is  probably 
no  truth  in  these  stories,  but  of  the  importance  of  the  battle 
itself  there  is  no  doubt.  Edmund  Mortimer  was  captured, 
and  the  first  step  taken  toward  that  alliance  which  eventually 
proved  so  dangerous  to  Henry.  The  prestige  which  he  won  in 
this  engagement  was  also  of  great  service  to  the  Welsh  leader, 
and  his  countrymen  began  to  rally  round  his  banner  in  ever- 
increasing  numbers. 

Meanwhile  Henry  had  been  collecting  a  strong  force  pre- 
paratory to  launching  an  attack  intended  to  crush  Glyndwr 
once  and  finally.  Writs  had  already  been  issued  requiring 
the  lieutenants  of  counties  to  assemble  their  forces  and  meet 
the  king  at  lyichfield  on  July  7.  Eventually  the  plans  were 
slightly  altered,  and  the  king's  forces  were  assembled  at  Chester, 
Shrewsbury,  and  Hereford  by  the  end  of  August.  While  these 
ponderous  preparations  were  being  made  Owain  swept  down 
upon  Glamorganshire.  Cardiff  and  Abergavenny  were  burnt. 
The  archdeaconry  of  Llandaff  was  destroyed  and  the  country 
ravaged.  When  at  last  the  tripartite  army  under  Henry, 
Henry  of  Monmouth — then  but  a  boy — and  the  Earl  of  Arundel 
was  ready  to  take  the  field,  Owain  replied  by  retiring  to 
the  mountain  fastnesses,  driving  before  him  the  cattle  of 
the  plains.  The  English,  hampered  by  evil  weather,  found 
themselves  in  a  desert.  The  crops  had  failed,  storms  of  rain 
beat  down  upon  the  invading  army,  the  inhabitants  had 
fled  and  meat  was  unprocurable.  Henry  retreated,  having 
accomplished  nothing.  Thus  could  Shakespeare  say,  in  the 
person  of  Glyndwr : 

Three  times  hath  Henry  Bolingbroke  made  head 
Against  my  power  ;  thrice  from  the  banks  of  Wye 
And  sandy-bottom'd  Severn  have  I  sent  him 
Bootless  home  and  weather-beaten  back. 

So  humbled  were  the  English  that  the  campaign  is  treated 
by  the  old  annalists  as  having  failed  because  Owain  had  magic 
powers.  But  it  was  no  magic.  Time  after  time  throughout 
376 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

the  history  of  Wales  have  armies  of  invasion  been  beaten  on 
the  bleak  hillsides  of  the  Berwyns  and  of  Eryri  by  weather, 
bogs,  and  hunger.  So  far  Owain  had  played  a  game  in  which 
many  a  Welsh  chieftain  had  taken  a  hand  in  the  years  gone 
by.  It  is  Glyndwr's  next  action  which  has  given  him  an 
imposing  place  in  English  as  well  as  in  Welsh  history. 

THE  ALLIANCE 

While  this  affair  had  been  in  progress  the  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland had  succeeded  in  defeating  the  Scots  at  Homildon 
Hill.  At  this  time,  of  course,  the  Percies  were  Henry's 
staunchest  supporters.  Trouble  arose,  however,  over  the 
captives  whom  Northumberland  had  taken,  and  for  this  and 
other  causes  the  Percies  became  dissatisfied.  At  the  same 
time  Edmund  Mortimer  had  been  left  by  Henry  a  prisoner  in 
Owain's  hands  and  no  serious  attempt  had  been  made  to  procure 
his  release.  The  Mortimers  had  other  causes  for  disloyalty. 
Henry's  title  to  the  throne  was  largely  based  on  conquest,  and 
so  far  as  birth  was  concerned  his  claims  were  inferior  to  those 
of  the  young  Earl  of  March,  Edmund  Mortimer's  nephew. 

The  result  of  these  defections  was  to  throw  Percy,  Mortimer, 
and  Glyndwr  into  a  confederacy,  to  which  moral  support  and 
a  promise  of  active  aid  was  rendered  by  the  Douglas,  whom 
Percy  had  lately  liberated.  Glyndwr  had  been  careful  through- 
out the  time  of  Mortimer's  captivity  to  treat  his  prisoner 
with  marked  respect.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Owain  per- 
ceived that  such  a  captive  might  prove  a  powerful  lever  in 
the  case  of  real  necessity.  There  was  thus  no  personal  enmity 
in  the  way  of  a  unification  of  the  forces  of  the  two  leaders. 

The  three  plotters  met,  we  are  informed,  "  at  the  house  of 
Dafydd  Daron,  or  of  Aberdarvon,  Dean  of  Bangor,  son  of 
Evan  ap  Dafydd  ap  Gruff ydd,  descended  from  Cenadoc  ap 
Jestyn,  a  Prince  of  Wales."  The  arrangement  was  that  the 
dragon,  the  lion,  and  the  wolf  *•  were  to  partition  England  and 
Wales  into  three  portions,  each  retaining  a  third. 

1  That  is,  Owain,  Percy,  and  Mortimer  respectively.  See  as  to  this  meeting, 
however,  Wylie,  History  of  England  under  Henry  IV,  vol.  i,  p.  354. 

377 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Glyndwr  was  now  at  the  highest  point  in  his  career.  We 
find  him  keeping  a  regular  court  in  Wales,  possessing  his  own 
chancery,  seal,  and  courts  of  law.  We  even  read  of  his  calling 
a  Parliament  of  the  de  Montfort  type  to  meet  at  Machynlleth, 


OWAIN'S  GREAT  SEAI, 


O WAIN'S  PRIVY  SEAI, 

From  Archeeologia,  vol.  xxv.     By  permission  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  London. 

and  he  was  also  formally  crowned  Prince  of  Wales.  It  was 
at  this  stage  that  he  narrowly  escaped  assassination  at  the 
hands  of  his  brother-in-law,  David  Gam.  The  attempt  was 
not  fatal  either  to  the  attacked  or  the  attacker.  Gam  was 
merely  imprisoned,  and  many  years  afterward  he  is  found 
fighting  at  the  battle  of  Agincourt. 

The  year  1403  was  mainly  important,  of  course,  for  the 
378 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

battle  of  Shrewsbury,  at  which  Harry  Hotspur  was  slain  and 
Henry  succeeded  in  destroying  the  hopes  and  plans  of  the 
confederates.  The  movements  of  this  year  have  been  very 
differently  described  by  different  authorities.  The  established 
Saxon  view  is  that  the  debacle  of  Shrewsbury  was  caused  to  a 
great  extent  by  Glyndwr's  liking  for  destructive  warfare — a 
trait  which  kept  him  ravaging  South  Wales  too  long,  so  that  he 
was  unable  to  form  a  juncture  with  Percy's  forces  at  Shrews- 
bury, and  arrived  too  late  to  support  his  ally,  being  con- 
sequently forced  to  look  passively  on  at  the  defeat  of  Hotspur's 
army  and  the  destruction  of  his  greater  ambitions.  Within 
recent  years,  however,  an  extremely  instructive  addition  has 
been  made  to  the  theories  relating  to  this  engagement  by  a 
learned  author  who  chooses  to  be  known  under  the  pen-name 
of  'Owen  Rhoscomyl.'  If  we  accept  the  suggestions  thrown 
out  by  this  writer  it  would  seem  that  the  real  rendezvous  of 
the  allies  was  fixed  in  the  Mortimer  country  at  I/udlow — 
which  was,  of  course,  the  seat  of  the  Mortimers'  power.  Our 
authority  adds :  "  From  this  place  they  were  to  march 
eastward  into  England  to  attack  Henry  with  a  view  to 
placing  the  crown  upon  the  head  of  the  child  Earl  of 
March." 

It  is  clear  that,  for  this  juncture  to  be  safely  effected,  it  was 
desirable  for  Glyndwr  to  make  the  country  behind  as  safe  as 
possible.  It  would  have  been  madness  to  have  withdrawn  his 
troops  from  Wales  in  an  easterly  direction  if  he  had  left 
behind  him  all  the  retainers  and  men-at-arms  of  his  enemies 
the  marcher  lords,  ready  and  able  to  fall  upon  his  now  defence- 
less possessions.  He  would  have  had  no  safe  base  upon  which 
to  fall  in  the  event  of  a  temporary  check  or  defeat. 

In  consequence  of  such  considerations  it  does  seem  at  least 
probable  that  Owain  had  a  definite  politic  purpose  in  his 
harrying  of  South  Wales.  While  Hotspur  was  hurrying  down 
to  Cheshire  Owain  was  carrying  fire  and  sword  throughout 
the  south.  He  had  not,  however,  been  forgetful  of  his  ally. 
Many  of  his  Welsh  followers  had  been  directed  to  join  Hot- 
spur's forces  in  Cheshire.  As  a  result  of  these  and  other 

379 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

additions  to  his  ranks,  Hotspur,  who  was  ever  a  better  man 
in  the  battlefield  than  in  the  council-chamber,  seems  to  have 
determined  to  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  Henry  single- 
handed.  He  certainly  struck  out  east,  completely  off  the  line 
of  march  he  should  have  taken  had  it  been  his  purpose  to  join 
his  allies.  It  was  not,  indeed,  until  he  found  that  the  men  of 
the  Midlands  were  not  hurrying  to  his  standard  like  the  men 
of  Cheshire  that  he  decided  to  attempt  the  juncture  originally 
planned.  Now,  however,  it  was  too  late. 

All  this,  of  course,  had  happened  without  the  knowledge 
either  of  Mortimer  or  of  Owain.  The  latter,  meanwhile,  had 
turned  back  from  ravaging  the  south.  Having  hurried  north 
to  Ludlow  in  order  to  effect  the  meeting  as  arranged,  it  was 
then  that  he  must  have  heard  of  Hotspur's  change  of  plans 
and  of  his  retreat  on  Shrewsbury.  The  Welsh  leader,  instantly 
perceiving  that  if  Hotspur  were  caught  by  Henry  before  the 
allies  had  joined  forces  the  whole  campaign  would  end  in 
disastrous  defeat,  hurried  his  men  up  north  by  forced  marches. 
Delayed  as  he  must  have  been  by  the  weather — for  it  had 
been  very  stormy  and  wet  and  the  floods  were  out — he  arrived 
too  late  to  save  Hotspur. 

So  far  we  have  followed  '  Owen  Rhoscomyl's '  view  of 
Glyndwr's  action.  That  Owain  probably  had  a  reason,  and 
a  politic  reason,  for  his  harrying  of  the  South  Wales  marcher 
lands  is  probable ;  that  Hotspur  turned  east  when,  to  effect 
an  immediate  juncture,  he  should  have  turned  west,  that 
Hotspur  gained  many  more  adherents  in  Cheshire  than  in  the 
Midland  counties,  is  known.  It  is  not,  however,  certain  that 
I/udlow  was  to  be  the  meeting-place,  though  it  is  a  very 
probable  and  convenient  centre  for  operations.  Again,  it  is 
not  very  clear  why  Glyndwr  took  so  long  in  marching  from 
South  to  North  Wales.  Accepting  '  Owen  Rhoscomyl's ' 
statement  that  "  Owain  turned  back  from  St.  Clear's  not 
earlier  than  July  12,"  we  find  that  the  Welsh  leader  took 
some  eleven  days  to  reach  Shrewsbury.  The  distance  is  not 
great,  and  even  assuming  that  there  was  trouble  with  the 
floods,  this  seems  far  too  long  a  time.  Owain,  of  course, 
380 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

may  have  been  relying  on  meeting  his  ally  at  lyudlow,  but 
we  must  assume  that  the  two  forces  were  keeping  hi  touch 
with  one  another  to  some  extent.  If  we  assume  that  Owain 
was  quite  ignorant  of  Hotspur's  movements  and  relied  on  the 
I/udlow  meeting,  then  indeed  he  cannot  be  blamed  for  the  failure 
to  meet.  Hotspur  must  be  adjudged  guilty  of  that  blunder. 

There  is  another  and  more  serious  difficulty,  however. 
Glyndwr  was  at  Oswestry,  which  is  considerably  to  the  north 
of  Shrewsbury,  while  the  battle  was  being  fought  between 
Shrewsbury  and  Oswestry.  Even  if  we  admit  that  Glyndwr 
was  so  circumstanced  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  aid 
his  ally,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  see  why  he  did  not  attack 
Henry  after  the  battle.  His  followers,  if  joined  to  the  remnant 
of  the  northern  army,  were  twice  as  numerous  as  Henry's 
entire  force.  Henry's  men  were  exhausted  by  a  fierce  and 
bloody  engagement ;  Mortimer's  army  was  untouched ; 
Northumberland  was  hurrying"  southward  by  forced  marches 
to  the  support  of  the  allies.1  Everything  seems  to  have  pointed 
to  the  necessity  for  instant  action.  The  scattered  armies  of 
the  allies  might  have  been  combined  and  flung  against  the 
king.  But  Owain  failed  to  act.  It  was  the  great  blunder  of 
his  life  and  the  turning-point  of  his  career.  Henceonward 
his  star  was  on  the  decline,  until  at  last  it  set  in  gloom  as  deep 
as  ever  enclouded  the  last  days  of  a  brave  man's  life. 

After  the  defeat  at  Shrewsbury  Glyndwr  seems  to  have 
done  little  to  further  the  plot  to  place  young  Mortimer  on  the 
throne.  He  returned  once  more  to  his  marauding  attacks. 

We  must  return,  however,  for  a  moment  to  the  consideration 
of  Ovvain's  earlier  South  Wales  campaign.  In  the  beginning 
of  1403  the  young  Henry  of  Monmouth  was  made  Lieutenant 
of  Wales,  and  although  but  fifteen  years  of  age  at  the  time, 
he  quickly  showed  of  what  mettle  he  was  made  by  burning 
Sycharth  and  ravaging  the  territory  around  Owain's  family 
demesne.  Owain  more  than  retaliated  by  a  merciless  devas- 
tation of  South  Wales.  The  keepers  of  castles  are  found 
writing  in  great  haste  to  the  king  for  immediate  aid.  Thus 

1  He  was  turned  back,  however,  by  Westmorland. 

38l 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

we  have  the  constable  of  Dynevor  sending  the  following  letter 
"  in  haste  and  in  dread  "  : 

"  Dure  frende  i  do  zow  to  wetyn  that  Oweyn  Glyndour 
Henri  Don,  Res  Duy,  Res  ap  Gr.  ap  1/lewelyn,  Res  Gethin, 
han  ywon  the  town  of  Kermerdyn,  and  Wygmor  constable  of 
the  Castell  hadd  yzeld  op  the  Castell  of  Kermerdyn  to 
Oweyn  ;  and  han  ybrend  the  Town,  and  yslay  of  men  of 
town  mor  than  1.  men ;  and  thei  budd  yn  [be  in]  purpos  to 
Kedweli ;  and  a  Seche  [siege]  ys  y  ordeynyd  at  the  Castell 
that  i  kepe,  and  that  ys  gret  peril  for  me,  and  al  that  buth 
wydde  ine  ;  for  thai  han  y  mad  har  [their]  avow  that  thei 
well  al  gat  haue  owss  [us]  dede  thryn.  Wher  for  I  prei  zow 
that  ze  nul  not  bugil  ous,  that  ze  send  to  ous  warning  wyth  yn 
schort  time  whether  schull  we  have  eny  help  or  no  ;  and  bot 
ther  bn  help  comig  that  we  have  an  answer,  that  we  may 
come  bi  nizt  and  stell  away  to  Brechnoc  ;  cause  that  we 
faylyth  vitels  and  men,  and  namlich  men.  Also  Jenkyn  ap 
I/I.  hath  y  zeld  op  the  Castell  of  Emlyn  wyth  free  wyll ;  and 
al  so  William  Gwyn,  Thomas  ap  David  ap  Gruff'  and  moni 
gentils  been  yn  person  wyth  Oweyn.  Warning  erof  I  prei 
that  ze  send  me  bi  the  berer  of  thus  letter.  Farydd  well  yn 
the  nam  of  the  Trinite.  Y  wryt  at  Dynevor,  yn  hast  and  yn 
dred,  yn  the  fest  of  Seint  Thomas  the  Martir. 

"  JANKYN  HANARD, 

"  Constable  de  Dynevour." 

Many  similar  appeals  from  castellans  and  constables  of 
castles  for  help  against  the  dreaded  Glyndwr  could  be  quoted. 
To  give  but  one  more  instance,  we  find  William  Venables 
and  Roger  Brescy  writing  to  the  king  on  the  eve  of  the  second 
assault  of  Caernarvon  Castle  by  Owain  Glyndwr  and  the 
French.1  After  stating  that  they  send  this  letter  by  a  woman 

1  The  text  of  this  letter  is  as  follows : 

"  Trespuissant  et  tresredoute  Seigneur  liege,  nous  nous  recommandons 
a  votre  tressouvereigne  Seigneur  oue  toutz  maneres  honeres  et  reverences. 
Et  pleise  a  votre  roial  Magestee  entendre  que  Robert  Parys  le  puisne  Cones- 
table  du  Chastell  de  Caernarvan  nous  ad  certifee  per  un  femme,  a  cause 
qil  navoit  homme  ascun  qi  osa  venir,  ne  homme  ne  femme  null  ose  ascun 
382 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

because  no  man  dare  bear  it  for  fear  of  Owain  Glyndwr  and 
his  men,  the  letter  proceeds  to  relate  that  Owain  is  preparing 
with  the  aid  of  the  French  to  attack  Caernarvon  Castle  with 
engines,  sows  (similar  to  the  Roman  vinea),  and  ladders  of 
great  length,  that  the  garrison  is  too  small  to  withstand  the 
attack,  many  having  been  lost  in  previous  struggles  or  by 
disease,  and  pleads  for  immediate  aid. 

The  French  who  are  referred  to  in  this  last  letter  were 
Owain's  French  allies,  who  began  to  join  him  in  1404,  and 
consequently  this  letter  does  not  belong  to  the  1403  campaign. 
It  is  very  typical,  however,  of  the  state  of  terror  which  Owain's 
presence  frequently  inspired.  As  we  have  said,  the  French 
did  not  commence  to  send  aid  to  Owain  until  1404.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  about  this  time  there  was  a  well-developed 
plan  in  existence  for  the  invasion  of  England  by  France.  A 
league  with  France  was  signed  by  Owain's  ambassadors,  John 
Hanmer  and  Griffith  Yonge,  in  Paris  on  June  14,  1404.  It 
was  not  ratified  by  Owain,  however,  until  January  1405. 
About  the  same  time  Owain  had  obtained  the  support  of  the 
Pope,  and  Trevor,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  seems  to  have  thought 
that  Owain's  bid  for  power  would  prove  successful,  for  he  is 
found  revolting  from  Henry  and  joining  the  forces  of  the  Welsh 
leader. 

The  French,  meanwhile,  had  not  been  inactive.     A  fleet  of 

lettre  porter  pour  les  rebelles  Gales  qe  Oweyn  de  Glyndour  ouesque  les 
Fraunceys  et  tout  son  autre  poair  se  taillent  d'assailler  les  Ville  et  Chastell 
de  Caernarvan,  et  a  commencer  le  jour  de  la  fesance  dicestes  ovec  esgynes, 
sowes,  et  laddres  de  tresgrand  longure,  et  ne  sont  mie  deinz  mesmes  les 
Ville  et  Chastell  en  tout  outre  xxviij.  hommes  defensibles,  q'est  trop  petit 
force,  qar  y  sont  xj.  de  les  meillors  homines  qestoient  la  dedeinz  al  darrein 
assege  illeoques  fait  ore  mortz,  ascuns  des  plaies  qils  avoient  a  temps  d'assaut 
a  eux  fait,  et  ascuns  de  pestilence,  siq  les  ditz  Chastell  et  Ville  sont  en  grand 
peril  sicome  le  portor  dicestes  vous  savera  enformer  par  bouche,  a  qi  pleise 
a  votre  hautesse  doner  ferme  foi  et  credence,  qar  il  sciet  vous  enformer  de 
tout  la  veritee.  Et  luy  toutponissant  Dieux  vous  ottrois,  notre  tresredoute 
Seigneur  liege,  prosperitee  et  bon  exploit  entres  touz  voz  affairs.  Et  pleise 
a  votre  hautesse  regarder  un  lettre  enclos  dedeinz  cestes  quele  Reignald 
de  Baildon  un  des  Gardeins  de  la  Ville  de  Conewey  nous  envoia  buy  ce  jour, 
touchant  lestat  de  votre  Seignorie  de  Northgales.  Escr.  a  Cestre  la  xvj. 
jour  de  Januer. 

"  Voz  poueres  lieges, 

"  WIUJAM  VENABI.ES  DE  KYNDERTON  AND  ROG.  BRESCY." 

383 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

considerable  size  had  set  sail,  intending  to  join  forces  with 
Owain,  but  it  got  no  farther  than  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  for 
the  moment  French  aid  had  to  be  dispensed  with. 

Owain,  nothing  daunted  by  this  reverse  to  his  allies,  was 
successful  in  inflicting  a  severe  loss  upon  the  English.  Richard 
Beauchamp  had  attacked  and  defeated  the  Welsh  leader,  and 
the  English  were  in  high  glee  at  the  rare  achievement.  Owain, 
however,  gathering  his  forces  together,  hurried  after  the 
victors  and  flung  himself  against  them  with  disastrous  results 
to  his  enemies.  This  victory  was  followed  up  by  the  capture 
of  Harlech  and  Aberystwyth  Castles. 

OWAIN'S  DECLINE 

The  year  1405  was  a  black  one  for  Glyndwr.  It  had  opened 
with  an  abortive  attempt  on  the  part  of  Constance  I,ady 
Despenser,  a  sister  of  the  Duke  of  York,  to  obtain  the  escape 
of  the  young  Earl  of  March  and  his  brother.  A  locksmith  was 
bribed,  keys  were  made,  the  young  prisoners  were  freed,  and 
their  fair  rescuer  hurried  them  north  and  west,  hoping  for 
asylum  in  Glyndwr's  mountain  retreats.  The  fugitives,  how- 
ever, were  overtaken,  I^ady  Despenser  and  her  charges  were 
imprisoned,  the  locksmith  lost  his  hands. 

The  next  misfortune  happened  in  March,  when  8000  of 
Glyndwr's  followers  were  overwhelmed  by  Sir  Gilbert  Talbot, 
Sir  William  Newport,  and  Sir  John  Greindre  in  South  Wales, 
in  that  engagement  an  account  of  which  is  preserved  to  us  in 
the  very  admirable  letter  from  Henry  of  Monmouth  to  his 
royal  father 1  now  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  and 
printed  in  Sir  John  Ellis'  second  series  of  Original  Letters. 
The  loss  to  Owain  in  this  battle  was  considerable,  some  800- 
1000  of  his  men  fell,  and  his  prestige  received  a  severe  check. 
Glyndwr  attempted  to  remedy  the  defeat  by  sending  his  son 

1  Henry  of  Monmouth  is  generally  credited  with  having  spent  a  boisterous, 
if  not  an  actually  vicious,  youth.  His  letters  to  his  father  show,  however, 
that  he  was  not  the  light  character  some  would  have  us  beh'eve.  Mr.  Solly 
Flood  has,  indeed,  clearly  established  that  the  young  Henry  was  by  no  means 
the  foolish  companion  of  such  men  as  Falstaff. 

384 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

with  another  army  to  retrieve  his  failing  fortune.  On  March  15 
the  battle  at  Mynydd  y  Pwll  Melyn,  in  Brecknockshire,  was 
fought.  Again  the  Welsh  were  defeated.  Fifteen  hundred  men 
were  captured  or  slain.  Owain's  son  was  one  of  the  captives  and 
his  brother  Tewdwr  one  of  the  dead.  For  a  time  the  Welsh  were 
paralysed,  for  it  was  feared  that  Glyndwr  himself  had  fallen. 
The  mistake  arose  through  Tewdwr' s  remarkable  resemblance 
to  him.  It  was  not,  indeed,  until  some  one  recognized  that 
the  mole  which  Owain  had  over  one  eye  was  missing  on  the 
face  of  the  dead  man  that  their  worst  fears  were  allayed.  Even 
as  it  was,  however,  the  reverse  was  a  serious  one,  and  according 
to  Holinshed  the  position  of  Owain  was  rendered  yet  more 
difficult  by  another  repulse  in  May.  Whether  this  engage- 
ment was  ever  fought  is,  indeed,  doubted  by  Pennant,  but  it  is 
clear  that  Owain's  fortunes  were  declining,  for  Glamorganshire 
submitted  to  Henry,  and  Glyndwr  himself  is  found  as  a 
fugitive  living  in  caves  and  desert  places.  A  cavern  by  the  sea 
near  Ivlangelyniu  for  long  bore  the  name  of  Ogof  Owain,  for 
tradition  has  it  that  here  Ednyfed  ap  Aaron  of  the  tribe  of 
Ednowain  ap  Bradwen  supported  his  leader,  Glyndwr,  during 
this  evil  time. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  small  happenings  that  Charles  VI 
of  France  sent  substantial  aid  to  his  Welsh  ally.  A  force  of 
800  men-at-arms,  600  cross-bowmen,  and  1200  foot-soldiers  set 
sail,  under  the  command  of  Aubert  de  Hangest,  Sire  de  Hugue- 
ville,  and  landed  at  Milford  Haven.  The  invaders  marched  on 
Caermarthen,  which  capitulated,  laid  unsuccessful  siege  to 
Haverfordwest,  and  eventually  joined  forces  with  Glyndwr  at 
Tenby.  The  combined  army  now  numbered  not  less  than 
10,000  men,  and  consequently  it  was  determined  to  attack  the 
English  border  counties.  Worcester  was  eventually  reached 
after  a  hurried  march  through  Glamorganshire,  and  its  out- 
lying parts  were  fired.  In  the  meantime  the  French  fleet 
had  been  attacked  and  many  ships  destroyed,  and  an  auxiliary 
fleet  bringing  supplies  scattered. 

The  English  king  now  determined  to  march  against  the 
Welsh-French  combination  in  person.  The  two  armies  met 

2B  385 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

near  Woodbury  Hill,  not  far  from  Worcester.  No  fighting 
took  place,  though  the  opposing  forces  were  facing  one  another 
for  eight  days.  The  French  commander  had  taken  up  a 
strong  position  and  refused  to  be  drawn.  Henry,  on  the  other 
hand,  contented  himself  with  cutting  off  food  supplies,  sending 
a  few  of  his  more  ardent  knights  to  wage  personal  combat 
with  cavaliers  from  the  other  side  so  that  the  French  might 
not  become  impatient.  These  tactics  were  successful.  De 
Hugueville  found  his  position  untenable  and  beat  a  retreat 
under  cover  of  night  into  Wales.  Henry  started  in  pursuit, 
but  found  progress  through  the  deserted  and  barren  country 
impossible.  He  retired  with  the  loss  of  much  baggage. 

The  French  seem  to  have  decided  to  render  no  further  aid 
to  Glyndwr,  and  their  forces  set  sail  for  France  in  the  spring 
of  1406.  Glyndwr  was  now  reduced  to  the  position  of  a  mere 
marauder.  He  had  not,  however,  given  up  all  his  high 
ambitions.  In  a  letter  to  Charles  VI  he  is  still  found  to  be 
aiming  at  the  restoration  of  Welsh  independence ;  and  it  is 
evident  that  he  still  hoped  to  separate  the  Welsh  from  the 
English  Church,  and  to  establish  two  Welsh  universities  in  which 
the  progressive  spirit  which  had  already  infused  new  life  into  the 
literature  of  the  country  could  find  expression  and  direction. 

Owain  Glyndwr,  though  about  to  decline  into  a  hapless 
condition,  was  still  the  man  of  affairs.  It  is  probable  that  he 
was  in  touch  with  Scotland  as  well  as  with  France.  The  Scotch 
power  had,  however,  been  broken  and  that  alliance  was  useless 
to  him.  Glyndwr  was  not  the  man  to  surrender  his  cherished 
ambitions  without  a  struggle.  He  was  still  in  the  prime  of 
life,  though  the  seal  which  has  been  preserved  to  us  shows 
him  as  a  man  well  advanced  in  years ;  he  was  as  yet  not  com- 
pletely deserted  by  his  French  allies,  who  sent  him  some  slight 
support  in  this  present  year.  The  greatest  weakness  of  his 
position  lay,  however,  in  the  nature  of  the  rising.  He  had 
been  the  leader  of  the  peasants.  His  followers  were  not 
mercenaries.  The  pay  they  got  was  not  in  money,  but  by 
way  of  redress  of  grievances  and  revenge.  They  must  have 
lived  on  plunder  and  the  ravaging  of  the  marcher  lands.  Such 
386 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

a  rising  naturally  must  have  been  short-lived.  Glyndwr  had 
already  succeeded  in  keeping  the  support  of  his  followers  for 
four  years.  During  that  time  the  marcher  lords  had  received 
a  rude  lesson  and  had  been  shown  that  oppression  was  a 
dangerous  weapon.  The  peasants,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
tired  of  a  warfare  which  now  had  little  reason  in  it  so  far  as 
they  could  see.  Owain's  great  schemes  for  a  new,  rejuvenated 
Wales,  free  as  to  territory,  religion,  and  education,  were  beyond 
them.  They  looked  to  their  immediate  needs  and  immediate 
wants  and  immediate  sufferings ;  and,  so  looking,  deserted  their 
leader.  Glamorganshire  had  already  submitted  to  the  king  in 
1405.  Early  in  1406  the  people  of  Ystrad  Tywi  passed  over 
from  the  Welsh  side.  In  the  north  and  in  Anglesey  Owain  was 
still  able  to  support  some  show  of  princely  power,  but  the 
royal  arm  was  beginning  to  reach  even  to  Anglesey. 

Ivlanbedr  and  Harlech  were  not  lost  to  him  until  1409,  but  the 
Karl  of  Northumberland,  who  had  earlier  sought  refuge  with 
Glyndwr,  realized  that  the  Welsh  leader  was  too  weak  to 
protect  him  and  left  Wales.  Owain,  for  his  part,  was  driven 
to  take  refuge  in  the  mountains,  from  whence  he  levied  a 
guerrilla  warfare  upon  the  surrounding  lands.  The  year  1408 
was  quite  uneventful,  but  in  1409  attacks  of  some  magnitude 
were  made  on  the  marches.  In  these  raids  Edward  de 
Charlton  of  Powys  suffered  most  severely.  It  was  found 
sufficient,  however,  to  issue  orders  calling  upon  the  greater 
landowners  to  garrison  their  castles  and  to  collect  their  forces. 
It  was  during  one  of  these  raids — this  time  directed  against 
Shropshire — that  Owain  lost  two  of  his  most  faithful  lieutenants 
in  the  persons  of  Rhys  Ddu  and  Philip  Scudamore,  who  were 
caught  by  the  English.  Both  were  sent  to  the  Tower  and 
executed,  Rhys  being  drawn  on  a  hurdle  to  Tyburn. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  Owain  was  again  active.  So 
great  was  the  loss  suffered  by  the  marchers  that  some  entered 
into  a  truce  with  the  Welsh  leader.  It  was  not,  however, 
countenanced  by  the  English  Government,  and  the  marchers 
were  peremptorily  commanded  to  renew  the  struggle.  This 
they  did  successfully,  so  that  Glyndwr  was  driven  once  more 

387 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

to  the  hills.  Owain  now  experienced  a  further  loss  of  sup- 
porters. His  followers  gradually  dwindled,  and  although  he 
was  still  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with,  he  was  unable  to  trouble 
his  enemies  during  the  years  following.  Pardons  had  been 
readily  granted  by  Henry  of  Monmouth  to  the  Welsh  rebels 
around  Coleshill,  and  the  country  was  rapidly  settling  down 
once  more  into  a  condition  of  tranquillity. 

The  later  years  of  Owain's  life  are  wrapped  in  obscurity. 
In  1413  Henry  IV  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  of 
Monmouth.  At  this  time  Glyndwr  had  been  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  a  wanderer  among  the  mountains  of  the  north. 
His  followers  had  largely  deserted  him,  won  over  by  the 
promises  of  pardon  held  out  to  them  by  Hugh  Huls,  or  Holes, 
Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and  Chief  Justice  Hankford,  who  had 
been  sent  by  Henry  V  to  North  Wales  to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  and  pardon  of  rebels  who  were  prepared  to  submit 
and  pay  an  appropriate  fine  in  lieu  of  escheat.  By  the  end  of 
that  year  the  country  was  quiet,  and  such  confidence  had 
Henry  in  the  settled  state  of  Wales  that  we  find  a  Welshman, 
Rhys  ap  Thomas,  appointed  Steward  of  Cardigan.  Castles 
were  rebuilt  and  the  country  returned  to  a  state  of  peace. 
As  Mr.  Wylie  has  said  in  his  work  on  Henry  V  :  l  "  The  general 
pacification  of  the  country  is  strongly  evidenced  by  the 
employment  of  many  Welshmen  in  positions  of  trust  under 
the  English  Government,  and  it  is  significant  to  find  many 
Welsh  squires  as  well  as  500  archers  from  South  Wales  with 
genuine  Welsh  names  fighting  side  by  side  with  Englishmen 
at  Agincourt,  though  there  is  also  evidence  that  some  Welsh 
gentlemen  fought  with  the  French  on  the  opposite  side. 

"  It  may  be  argued  that  this  is  only  a  proof  of  Welsh  adapt- 
ability ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  expressly  recorded  by  a  compatriot 
that  when  they  saw  their  cause  was  lost  they  took  to  living 
like  Englishmen.  They  tilled  the  ground,  moved  into  towns, 
made  money  and  kept  it,  rode  in  hauberks,  wore  shoes,  slept 
under  blankets,  and  tried  to  pass  as  English  rather  than  as 
Welsh.  Thus  money  broke  them  down,  and  the  fear  of  losing 

1  The  first  volume,  published  1914. 
388 


OWAIN    GLYNDWR 

what  they  had  ;  for  it  is  only  the  haveless  that  can  afford  to  be 
dreadless,  and  only  the  empty  wayfarer  that  can  whistle  in 
the  face  of  the  robber." 

Owain's  career  was  now,  indeed,  nearly  at  an  end.  Roaming 
about  the  Berwyns,  deserted  by  all  save  a  few  faithful  followers, 
he  was  told  by  the  abbot  of  Valle  Crucis  Abbey,  who  met  him 
one  day  wandering  forlornly  among  the  scenes  of  his  youth, 
near  the  ruins  of  Sycharth,  that  he  had  risen  a  century  too 
soon.  The  prophecy  that  a  Welshman  would  one  day  sit 
on  the  throne  of  England  evidently  was  not  to  apply  to 
him.  He  who  had  once  been  the  hero  of  his  country  was 
now  reduced  to  wearing  the  clothes  of  a  labourer,  so  that 
with  sickle  in  hand  he  might  escape  recognition  and  capture. 
Poor  and  almost  friendless,  he  had  to  look  back  on  a  life 
full  of  noble  purpose  which  yet  had  failed  to  reach  the 
goal  so  long  attempted.  In  the  struggle  he  had  lost  all  save 
honour.  His  lands  had  gone,  his  home,  one  time  the  centre 
of  hospitality,  was  a  burnt-out  ruin.  All  his  sons  had  been 
captured  or  had  perished,  save  only  Maredudd,  who  now 
shared  his  downfall.  It  may  be  that  his  daughters  were  still 
living,  but  one  of  them,  Catherine,  the  widow  of  Edmund 
Mortimer,  together  with  her  three  little  daughters,  had  been 
captured  when  Harlech  fell  in  1409.  All  of  these  died  in 
London  before  1414,  and  were  buried  in  St.  Swithin's  Church, 
in  Candlewick  Street. 

But  if  Owaiii  had  lost  his  lands,  his  children,  and  his 
followers,  he  had  not  lost  all  his  former  spirit,  for  though 
Gilbert  Talbot  was  authorized  to  negotiate  a  pardon  with  him 
as  late  as  1415,  the  old  hero,  who  had  thought  to  make  of  his 
people  a  free  and  enlightened  nation,  refused  to  come  to  terms. 
He  died  soon  afterward,  worn  out  with  want  and  exposure.  He 
was  buried  at  night,  and  no  one  knows  where  his  grave  is. 

Glyndwr  was  dead.  Whether  his  poor  corpse  lay  in  the 
earth  at  Bangor  or  at  Monnington  or  at  Kenchurch,  or  whether 
it  was  covered  by  leaves  in  the  woods  of  Glamorganshire,  he 
was  dead,  and  no  longer  could  men  look  to  him  as  a  national 
champion  who  could  lead  them  to  freedom.  But  though 

389 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Glyndwr  was  dead  his  deeds  still  lived.  He  had  befriended  the 
poor  and  the  peasants.  He  had  won  for  them  what,  leaderless, 
they  would  never  have  gained.  He  had  struggled  hard  to  give 
his  country  freedom  and  the  priceless  gift  of  learning.  He  had 
shown  himself  a  single-hearted  patriot.  He  had  sacrificed  his 
fortune,  his  children,  his  life  in  the  struggle.  His  reward  and 
his  only  reward  is  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  Welshmen  unoccupied 
by  any  other  name  in  Welsh  history.  We  can  truly  say  with 
Gruffydd  Llwyd,  though  five  centuries  have  passed  since  he 
wrote  : 

Thy  high  renown  shall  never  fail, 
Owain  Glyndwr. 


39° 


CHAPTER  XXII 
WALES  AND  ENGLAND  UNITED 

A  the  beginning  of  the  period  of  which  we  are  now 
treating  the  Welsh  had  but  lately  put  down  their  arms, 
which  for  years,  under  the  leadership  of  Glyndwr, 
they  had  raised  against  England.  Glyndwr,  actuated  by 
the  highest  motives,  had  pursued  the  policy  of  Owain 
of  France,  had  allied  himself  to  the  French  king,  and  had 
looked  to  French  aid  to  release  him  and  his  country  from 
chains  forged  by  England.  At  the  end  of  the  period  we  find 
Welshmen  fighting  bravely  by  the  side  of  England  and  France 
in  the  battlefields  of  Belgium.  So  spins  the  whirligig  of 
Time.  From  the  death  of  Owain  Glyndwr  to  the  great 
European  War  there  stretch  the  movements  of  centuries.  In 
those  years  Welshmen  have  done  famous  deeds  the  world 
over.  They  have  fought  for  King  Harry  of  England  against 
France — many  a  Welshman  laid  down  his  life  on  the  field  of 
Agincourt ;  their  bowmen  went  far  to  make  us  the  premier 
fighting  race  in  Europe  in  the  early  fifteenth  century.  Welsh- 
men fought  on  both  sides  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  A 
dynastic  struggle  headed  by  the  Mortimers,  and  at  the  end, 
on  the  other  side,  by  the  Tudors,  could  hardly  fail  to  interest 
and  excite  the  Principality.  As  every  Welshman  knows, 
Edward  IV,  the  leader  of  the  Yorkists,  was  a  Mortimer,  and 
was  descended  from  Llywelyn  the  Great  through  that  Gwladys 
who  married  Ralph  Mortimer.  Henry  VII,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  a  descendant  of  Owen  Tudor  of  Anglesey.  Again, 
with  Welsh  Henry  and  the  Tudors  came  those  changes  which 
saw  the  fall  of  an  aristocracy  and  the  rise  of  a  monarchy 
wisely  tolerating  and  apparently  bending  before  the  people  in 

391 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

their  Parliament  assembled.  This  era  it  was  which  saw  the 
Rule  of  Law  beginning  to  be  firmly  established.  For  Wales 
it  saw  the  seigneurial  jurisdictions  crushed  ;  it  saw  the  Council 
of  the  Marches  developed  and  strengthened.  Under  Bishop 
Lee  it  saw  lawlessness  ruthlessly  put  down ;  under  the  firm 
hand  of  Thomas  Cromwell  it  saw  disorder  checked  and  trade 
encouraged.  Toward  the  end  of  the  Tudor  period  the  world 
saw  the  eyes  of  north-western  Europe  turning  from  Rome. 
The  Renaissance,  bringing  to  man  the  fruits  of  knowledge, 
caused  him  to  cast  away  the  husks  of  creed.  Again  Wales 
took  her  part.  For  many  reasons  the  waves  of  this  mighty 
movement  had  been  late  in  reaching  her  shore,  and  Wales 
remained  Catholic  for  years  after  England  had  turned  Protes- 
tant ;  but  when  the  Bible  was  translated  into  Welsh  by  such 
men  as  Salesbury  and  Bishop  Morgan  and  had  been  distributed 
widely  by  the  munificence  of  Myddleton  the  Puritan  spirit 
began  to  gather  in  force,  and  although  it  developed  too  late 
to  prevent  Wales  attaching  herself  in  the  main  to  the 
Royalist  party  in  the  great  struggle  of  the  Civil  War,  it  grew 
in  time  into  that  austere  Nonconformity  which  in  the 
eighteenth  century  did  much  to  cleanse  Wales  of  serious 
abuses,  and  certainly  was  effective  in  preserving  the 
Welsh  language  from  the  fate  which  has  overtaken  Old 
Cornish. 

When  we  remember  that  to  all  these  important  movements, 
Events,  and  facts  we  must  add  the  presence  in  English  history 
of  the  names  of  many  great  Welshmen  ;  when  we  remember 
that  this  period  saw  the  political  and  de  facto  union  of  England 
and  Wales,  the  growth  of  Welsh  representation  in  Parliament 
— and  at  least  one  English  Premier,  in  the  person  of  Robert 
Harley,  Earl  of  Oxford,  who  sat  for  Radnor  for  twenty  years, 
is  to  be  numbered  among  the  Welsh  members — we  must 
agree  that  this  long  period  of  history  cannot  be  treated 
adequately  or  even  adumbrated  in  one  chapter.  It  is,  indeed, 
because  from,  at  latest,  the  Act  of  Union  of  1535  Wales  merges 
more  and  more  in  England  and  Welsh  history  becomes 
inextricably  intermingled  with  English  history  that  we  have 

392 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

dared  to  dismiss  these  long  and  important  years  in  a  few 
pages  of  this  book. 

WAR  AND  LAWLESSNESS 

The  hundred  and  twenty  years  which  separate  the  death  of 
Glyndwr  from  the  Act  of  Union  were  sad  years  for  Wales. 
Bereft  of  their  leaders,  the  people  became  a  nation  of  peasants. 
Literature  declined  and  wore  a  rougher  garb,  the  nation  was 
poor  and  prostrate  before  the  lords  marchers,  though,  it  is 
true,  the  lessons  of  the  peasants'  revolt  under  Glyndwr  had 
beneficial  results  for  the  tiller  of  the  soil.  Lawlessness  was 
rampant,  outlawry  and  the  harbouring  of  thieves  and  mur- 
derers were  common.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  towns  trade 
increased  and  Welshmen  began  to  grow  rich.  The  seigneurial 
jurisdictions  had,  however,  great  power  and  gave  rise  to  grave 
abuses.  Thousands  of  Welshmen,  despairing  of  a  free  life  in 
their  native  country,  turned  eagerly  to  the  French  wars  to 
enable  them  to  earn  liberty  and  honour  and  a  fair  wage  as 
the  price  of  their  lives.  It  is  not,  however,  until  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses  that  Wales  is  again  found  taking  an  important 
part  in  any  great  national  movement. 

As  Miss  Skeel  has  told  us,  "  During  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 
the  power  of  the  rival  claimants  to  the  throne  lay  in  Wales 
and  the  marches.  From  the  great  Mortimer  estates,  whose 
centre  was  Ludlow,  the  Duke  of  York  drew  his  armies,  while 
the  west  of  Wales,  from  Pembroke  to  Anglesey,  was  strongly 
Lancastrian.  For  a  generation  the  dreary  dynastic  struggle 
continued,  reducing  divided  Wales  to  utter  misery,  till  at  last 
the  Welshman  Henry  Tudor  defeated  the  heir  of  the  Mortimers 
on  Bosworth  Field."  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  inflict  upon  the 
reader  an  account  of  the  many  and  bloody  battles  which  were 
fought  in  the  course  of  this  great  civil  war,  and  which,  by 
reducing  the  power  and  number  of  the  old  nobility,  paved  the 
way  for  Tudor  greatness  and  the  Rule  of  Law.  Since,  how- 
ever, the  appearance  of  Henry  Tudor  on  the  English  throne 
had  a  considerable  effect  on  Welsh  history,  we  will  trace  out 
the  steps  which  sent  him  an  exile  to  France  and  brought  him 

393 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

back  through  Wales  and  supported  by  Welshmen  to  wear  the 
crown  taken  from  the  dead  Richard  at  Bosworth. 

Henry  VII  was  the  son  of  Edmund,  Earl  of  Richmond,  and 
grandson  of  Owen  Tudor,  who,  though  but  a  private  gentleman 
of  Anglesey,  was  of  princely  descent  and  had  married  Henry  V's 
widow,  Catherine  of  France.  Edmund  had  also  made  an 
important  alliance,  having  married  Margaret  Beaufort,  heiress 
of  John  of  Gaunt.  Edmund  died  while  the  child  Henry  was 
yet  an  infant,  leaving  him  the  ward  of  his  uncle,  Jasper  Tudor, 
Earl  of  Pembroke.  Owen  Tudor  was  taken  and  beheaded 
after  the  Lancastrian  defeat  at  Mortimer's  Cross,  and  the 
young  Henry  Tudor  was  captured  by  Herbert  after  the  fall  of 
Harlech  Castle,  a  stronghold  which  held  out  last  of  all  the 
Lancastrian  castles.  It  is  supposed  that  during  this  siege  the 
Welsh  national  song,  "The  March  of  the  Men  of  Harlech,"  was 
composed. 

The  tide  turned  in  the  year  following  (1469),  when  Herbert 
was  beheaded  after  Edgecote  and  Jasper  Tudor  rescued  his  ward 
from  Herbert's  castle  of  Raglan.  The  child  Henry  was  as  yet  but 
second  among  the  hopes  of  the  Lancastrians,  but  when  Prince 
Edward  was  murdered  at  Tewkesbury  Henry  became  heir  to 
the  Red  Rose  cause.  The  defeat  at  Tewkesbury  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  seek  safety  abroad,  and  so  we  find  him 
smuggled  by  Jasper  from  Pembroke,  to  be  carried  by  ill  winds 
to  Brittany. 

It  was  not  until  some  fourteen  years  later  that  the  youthful 
claimant  with  the  still  faithful  Jasper  sailed  from  Harfleur 
for  Wales  again.  They  landed  on  the  coast  of  Pembroke- 
shire. Their  reception  was  by  no  means  cheering.  Herbert 
hung  backhand  Rhys  ap  Thomas  for  the  moment  appeared 
more  ready  to  bargain  than  to  aid.  Finally,  however, 
this  wealthy  leader  of  the  South  Wales  peoples  extracted 
sufficient  promises  from  Henry  and  definitely  threw  in  his 
lot  with  the  Tudors.  Richard  Gruffydd  also  came  forward,  and 
as  Henry  passed  through  Machynlleth,  Newtown,  and  Welsh- 
pool  to  Shrewsbury  his  following  gradually  increased.  Shrews- 
bury itself,  after  some  hesitation,  threw  open  its  gates.  When 

394 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

at  last  .Henry  and  Richard  were  about  to  meet,  Sir  William 
Stanley,  who  had  long  been  a  doubtful  quantity,  joined 
forces  with  Henry.  The  direct  result  of  the  fight  is  known  to 
all.  Richard  was  slain  wearing  the  crown  which  at  the  end  of 
the  day  Lord  Stanley  placed  on  Henry's  brow.  The  indirect 
result  was  the  end  of  anarchy  and  the  commencement  of  the 
Rule  of  Law,  and,  for  Wales,  union  with  England  and  the 
decline  of  lawlessness. 

UNION  AND  LAW 

It  has  sometimes  been  stated  that  in  view  of  the  aid  which 
Henry  VII  derived  from  Wales,  of  his  Welsh  blood  and  Welsh 
friendships,  this  first  of  the  Tudors  did  little  for  his  native 
country.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  see  how,  as  King  of 
England,  occupying  a  somewhat  shaky  throne,  he  could  have 
done  more.  He  and  his  immediate  successors,  though  they 
united  Wales  to  England,  gave  the  Welsh  the  political  advan- 
tages of  Englishmen  ;  they  fostered  Welsh  trade,  they  attacked 
the  seigneurial  jurisdictions  and  strove  to  put  down  lawless- 
ness. Perhaps  the  greatest  good  which  Henry  did  for  Wales 
was  the  establishment  of  the  Council  of  Wales  and  the  Marches, 
although  we  hardly  agree  with  Mr.  H.  T.  Evans  when  he  says 
that  "  the  establishment  of  this  Court  .  .  .  practically  sums 
up  the  work  of  Henry  VII  on  behalf  of  Wales." 

According  to  Miss  Skeel,1  this  council  arose  out  of  the 
Prince's  Council  which  had  existed  ever  since  the  time  of  the 
first  English  Prince  of  Wales  for  the  purpose  of  administering 
his  estates.  As  such,  of  course,  it  had  originally  no  authority 
in  the  marches.  This  had  been  given  it  from  time  to  time  by 
commissions,  and  marcher  jurisdiction  was  facilitated  by  the 
fact  that  Edward  IV,  a  Mortimer,  was  at  once  king  of  Eng- 
land and  the  most  important  marcher  lord.  At  first  it  was 
a  temporary  council  sitting  at  Shrewsbury.  It  was  made 
permanent  and  its  jurisdiction  was  extended  and  its  place  of 
meeting  fixed  at  Ludlow  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  An  Act 

1  We  hare  frequently  consulted  Dr.  Skeel's  The  Council  of  the  Marches 
of  Wales,  as  being  the  best  of  the  recent  studies  on  this  important  court. 

395 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

°f  I543  gave  it  a  statutory  basis,  and  in  Henry  VIII's  time 
its  members  were  the  Lord  President,  the  Chief  Justice  of 
Chester,  and  three  justices  of  Wales,  together  with  certain 
co-opted  members  who  were  chosen  by  the  Lord  President, 
and  who  were  required  to  possess  the  qualification  of  knowing 
law. 

The  Council  possessed  very  wide  jurisdiction.  Its  procedure 
was  a  mixture  of  the  Star  Chamber  system  by  question  and 
the  Chancery  practice.  It  had  the  power  to  subject  suspected 
felons  to  torture. 

It  was  under  the  presidency  of  Rowland  Lee  (1534-43) 
that  this  court  reached  its  greatest  power.  Lee  was  possessed 
of  some  of  the  savagery  of  the  later  Jeffreys,  and  is  credited 
with  having  hanged  5000  men  in  six  months.  We  find  him 
writing  as  follows  at  the  commencement  of  his  labours  :  "I 
intend  after  Easter  to  stop  for  a  month  at  Presteigne  among 
the  thickest  of  the  thieves,  and  shall  do  the  king  such  service 
as  the  strongest  of  them  shall  be  afraid  to  do."  Nine  years 
later  he  was  still  chasing  outlaws  and  hanging  thieves,  but 
his  rigour  had  its  effect.1  Wales  gradually  settled  down, 
gave  up  the  "  routs  and  confederacies  "  of  which  complaints 
had  been  made  from  the  Statute  of  Gloucester  in  1378  onward, 
disgorged  its  gangs  of  cut- throat  outlaws,  and  turned  from 
open  theft  to  buying  and  selling.  The  Welsh  ceased  to  be 
brigands  and  became  citizens. 

We  thus  see  that  the  Council  of  Wales  and  the  Marches, 
which  lingered  on  until  1689,  was  in  its  early  years  doing 
good  service.  It  was  stamping  out  lawlessness.  Its  work 
was  aided  and  Wales  was  drawn  nearer  to  England  by  the 
Act  of  Union  of  1535.  This  Act,  which  has  been  truly 
described  as  one  of  the  most  important  statutes  in  Welsh 
history,  was  the  work  of  Thomas  Cromwell.  In  the  words  of 
the  preamble,  it  provided  that  "  Wales  shal  be  stonde  and 
contynue  for  ever  fromhensforthe  incorporated  united  and 
annexed  to  and  with  this  Realme  of  Englande ;  and  that  all 

1  A  curious  result,  we  may  say,  for  nothing  is  more  evident  than  the  fact 
that,  as  a  rule,  crime  increases  as  rigour  of  punishment  increases. 
396 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

and  singular  psonne  and  psonnes  borne  and  to  be  borne  in 
the  said  Principalitie  Countrey  or  Dominion  of  Wales,  shall 
have  enjoye  and  inherite  all  and  singular  fredomes  libties 
rightes  privileges  and  lawes  within  this  Realme  and  other  the 
Kynges  Dominions  as  other  the  Kinges  Subjects  naturally 
borne  within  the  same."  In  particular  the  old  Welsh  law  of 
inheritance  was  abolished  (save  that  lands  in  Wales  remained 
partable) ,  primogeniture  was  established,  English  law  applied 
equally  to  both  countries.  The  lordship  marches  were  annexed 
to  the  newly  created  shires  of  Monmouthshire,  Brecknock- 
shire, Radnorshire,  Montgomeryshire,  and  Denbighshire,  and 
several  of  the  older  Welsh  counties  were  increased  in  size. 
Seven  years  later  the  counties  were  divided  into  hundreds 
and  the  English  local  government  system  was  established.  The 
administration  of  justice  in  Wales  was  also  developed  on  the 
English  plan,  though  worthy  customs  of  Wales  were  preserved. 
All  courts  were  ordered  to  be  kept  in  the  English  tongue,  and 
all  officers  were  required  to  speak  English.  The  English 
circuit  system  was  not,  however,  extended  to  Wales,  for 
Henry  VIII  gave  the  Principality  its  own  High  Court  of 
Justice,  the  '  King's  Great  Sessions/  which  was  not  abolished 
until  1830.  Finally,  and  mainly,  the  Act  of  Union  gave 
Wales  adequate  representation  in  Parliament :  one  knight 
from  each  shire  and  one  burgess  from  each  shire-town 
(except  Merioneth).  Monmouthshire  had  two  knights  as 
shire  members.  In  1542  Haverfordwest  was  made  a  county 
and  given  one  member. 

It  must  not,  of  course,  be  thought  that  Wales  now  for  the 
first  time  sent  members  to  the  English  Parliament.  We  have 
a  writ,  De  Wallensibus  ad  Parliamentum  apud  Eborum  venire 
faciendis,  dated  April  18,  15  Ed.  II,  addressed  to  Arundel, 
Justiciary  of  Wales,  directing  the  return  of  twenty-four 
members  from  North  and  South  Wales  to  the  Parliament  to 
be  held  at  York  on  May  2,  1322,  and  although  the  returns  to 
this  writ  have  been  lost  it  is  probable  that  the  members  were 
in  fact  returned.  Again,  we  have  another  writ  dated  Janu- 
ary 8,  1327,  to  which  there  was  a  return.  After  that,  however, 

397 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

there  is  a  hiatus  until  the  Act  of  Union.  From  1536  *  Welsh 
representation  was  as  continuous  as  English,  except  for  a 
break  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War.  In  1832  the  number  of 
Welsh  members  was  increased  from  twenty-seven  to  thirty- 
two,  and  a  further  increase  of  one  member  was  made  in  both 
1867  and  1885.  Welsh  representation  has  been  noted  for  the 
continuity  of  representation  by  particular  houses,  especially  the 
Herberts  and  the  Wynns.  It  is  only  within  recent  years  that 
Welsh  constituencies  have  been  captured  by  non- Welshmen. 

The  coming  of  the  Tudors  is  thus  seen  to  have  advanced 
perceptibly  the  political  history  of  Wales.  In  another  direc- 
tion, however,  the  Principality  still  lagged  behind  her  eastern 
neighbour.  Wales  was  sunk  in  ignorance.  As  Mr.  Evans  z 
tells  us,  "  The  breach  between  lord  and  peasant  which  began 
on  the  accession  of  the  Tudors  .  .  .  became  more  pronounced 
with  the  Act  of  Union."  The  English  court  called  the  nobles 
and  landed  classes  of  Wales  from  their  fastnesses ;  they  left 
the  peasants  to  shift  for  themselves ;  they  left  the  clergy  in 
an  age  of  patrons  patronless ;  they  ignored  the  bard  and 
forgot  the  language  the  native  poets  knew.  The  result  was  a 
drunken,  ignorant,  immoral  clergy,  a  peasant  literature,  and 
a  poor  peasantry.  But  even  in  this  direction  the  light  was 
breaking. 

THE  RENAISSANCE 

It  is  possibly  an  anachronism  to  speak  of  the  Welsh  Renais- 
sance before  the  Civil  War.  The  latter,  however,  we  can 
date  between  definite  years  ;  the  former  spreads  over  centuries, 
and  certainly  commenced  in  one  direction  in  the  Tudor  period. 
It  has  its  roots,  indeed,  in  times  far  earlier,  even  in  the  years 
when  Vacarius  was  lecturing  at  Oxford.  Thus,  although  it 
had  no  great  effect  upon  Welsh  thought  until  well  on  into 
the  seventeenth  century,  we  will  consider  it  before  touching 
upon  the  Civil  War. 

1  The  returns  to  the  writs  have  been  lost  from  1536  to  1541.     We  follow 
W.  R.  Williams'  Parliamentary  History  of  the  Principality  of  Wales. 
1  H.  T.  Evans,  History  of  England  and  Wales,  vol.  ii. 

398 


PI.ATE  LV.     HUMPHREY  LI,\VYD 


398 


From  the  picture  in  the  possession  of  Major-General  Sir  Francis  Lloyd, 
and  reproduced  with  his  permission 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

In  the  majestic  march  of  human  affairs  there  come  at 
times  moments  when  mankind  leaps  forward.  The  Renais- 
sance, which  had  long  been  preparing,  even  before  Constanti- 
nople fell,  was  one  of  these  great  periods.  It  burst  in  full 
glory  upon  different  nations  at  different  times.  England 
was  dazzled  by  the  splendours  which  a  new  knowledge  of 
Greek  had  opened  up  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century, 
llichard  Croke  was  teaching  Greek  at  Louvain  before  his 
return  to  Cambridge  in  1518.  Wales,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
still  buried  in  ignorance  in  Tudor  times.1  Indeed,  the  Rev. 
Meredith  Morris  in  his  pleasing  Renaissance  of  Welsh  Literature 
has  said  :  "  The  history  of  Welsh  literature  viewed  in  its  own 
light  reveals  nothing  extraordinary  or  noteworthy  from 
Dafydd  ab  Edmund  (1450)  down  to  Goronwy  Owen  (1750), 
either  in  prose  or  in  poetry,  if  we  except,  of  course,  the 
vernacular  version  of  the  Scriptures  and  some  half  a  dozen  or 
so  classics."  Apart  from  literature,  Wales  was  steeped  in 
superstition  and  Welsh  morals  were  regrettable.  The  religious 
movement  which  resulted  in  so  many  beneficial  changes  in 
England  hardly  touched  Wales.  It  is  true  that  the  monasteries 
were  swept  away,  but  few  schools  were  planted  in  their  place, 
and  although  Dr.  Hugh  ap  Rice  (or  Price)  founded  Jesus 
College,  Oxford,  in  1571,  it  had  little  effect  upon  the  general 
education  of  the  Welsh  people.  Such  grammar  schools  as  were 
founded  out  of  the  plunder  of  the  monasteries  were  so  ordered 
that  they  were  mainly  useful  to  the  English  inhabitants  of 
Wales  and  the  well-to-do.  Printing,  which  had  been  instru- 
mental in  spreading  the  knowledge  which  the  growing  body  of 
scholars  in  England  and  on  the  Continent  were  collecting,  was 
hardly  of  any  service  to  the  Welsh-speaking  people,  for  no 
printing-press  existed  in  Wales  until  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  first  book  printed  in  Welsh  in  Wales  was  Eglurhad  o 
Catechism  Byrraf  y  Gymanfa,  issued  from  the  press  set  up  at 
Trefhedyn,  in  Cardiganshire,  and  published  in  1719.  Previously 
Welsh  books  had  been  printed  in  London  or  (from  1685 

1  There  were,  of  course,  exceptions.     Richard  Recorde  of  Tenby  was  one 
of  the  greatest  mathematicians  and  astronomers  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

399 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

onward)  in  Shrewsbury.  Set  up  thus  by  men  not  knowing  the 
language,  they  were  either  hopelessly  inaccurate  or  the  author 
had  to  wait  upon  the  printer — with  the  result  that  very  few 
Welsh  books  were  published  anywhere  before  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century.1 

In  this  dark  period  of  Welsh  thought  there  were,  however, 
a  few  bright  stars.  The  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
by  William  Salesbury,  and  subsequently  of  the  whole  Bible  by 
Bishops  Morgan  and  Parry,  aided  by  such  men  as  Dr.  Richard 
Davies,  gave  to  the  Welsh  the  greatest  of  books.  Morgan's 
translation,  indeed,  had  an  effect  even  beyond  the  immediate 
religious  result.  His  style,  marked  as  it  is,  we  are  informed, 
by  purity  of  diction,  euphony,  uniformity  of  dialect,  and  the 
use  of  language  which  the  most  unlearned  could  understand, 
marked  a  turning-point  in  Welsh  literature  more  important 
by  far  than  the  Eisteddfod  of  Caerwys.  I/ater  on  Vicar 
Prichard,  the  strong  and  eloquent  preacher  who  has  been 
referred  to  as  "  the  Hogarth  of  the  pen,"  gave  his  country- 
men another  great  gift  when  he  wrote  the  Canwyll  y  Cymry. 
His  style  might  be  that  of  the  peasant,  but  it  was  vigorous 
and  not  debased,  and  it  caught  the  imagination  of  the 
people. 

As  for  religion,  Wales,  strangely  enough,  remained  Catholic 
at  heart  long  after  England  had  become  Protestant.  During 
the  changes  under  Mary  and  Elizabeth  it  would  seem,  indeed, 
that  the  Welsh  were  purely  indifferent.  The  clergy  had  long 
ceased  to  have  any  grip  upon  the  affections  of  the  people. 
The  higher  clergy  rarely  lived  in  their  dioceses,2  and  the 
lower  were  ignorant  and  dissolute.  The  people  were  given  up 
to  superstition.  In  time,  however,  Church  government  was 
cleansed,  the  bishoprics  were  adorned  by  such  men  as  Morgan 
and  Parry,  and  the  lower  clergy  were  gradually  made  more 
capable  of  performing  their  sacred  functions.  It  has,  however, 

1  Mr.  Ballinger  in  a  note  sent  to  the  Athenaum  for  March  5,  1915,  has 
pointed  out  that  a  book  in  Welsh  was  printed  in  America  in  1730. 

2  This  applies,  perhaps,  more  to  the  early  sixteenth  century  than  to  the 
latter  half.     Bishop  Bulkeley  of  Bangor  (1541-52)  was  the  first  bishop  for 
a  hundred  years  or  more  to  reside  in  his  diocese. 

400 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

to  be  admitted  that  the  Church  of  England  has  never  shared 
largely  in  the  affections  of  the  Welsh  nation.  Until  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Welsh  leaned  toward  Roman  Catho- 
licism. From  that  time  to  this  they  have  gradually  become 
a  nation  of  Nonconformists. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR 

At  the  time  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  Wales,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  nearly  equally  divided  between  the  two  contending 
parties.  With  the  Puritan  revolution  against  the  absolutism 
and  Roman  Catholic  tendency  of  the  Stuarts  it  was  different. 
Wales  was  entirely  Royalist  save  for  a  small  portion  of  South 
Pembroke.  The  reasons  for  this  unity  are  not  too  apparent. 
Wales,  of  course,  was  Catholic  at  heart,  but  it  was  by  no 
means  intensely  Catholic.  There  had  been  no  Welsh  Pilgrimage 
of  Grace,  and  the  Puritans,  headed  by  such  men  as  Vicar 
Prichard  and  Morgan  I,lwyd,  were  beginning  to  make  headway. 
The  aristocracy  was,  it  is  true,  advancing  in  importance,  and 
relied  for  that  advancement  upon  the  favour  of  the  English 
Government.  But  they  were  not  mere  courtiers,  and  such 
men  as  lyord  Keeper  Williams  had  all  along  advocated  a 
policy  of  conciliation  between  king  and  Parliament.  Even 
had  the  Welsh  nobility  favoured  the  Royalist  cause  it  is  not 
obvious  why  they  should  have  carried  with  them  the  peasantry. 
They  had  largely  neglected  Wales  ;  they  were  already  for- 
getting the  Welsh  tongue,  which  alone  was  known  to  the 
peasants  ;  they  rarely  traced  their  title  directly  from  the 
ancient  chiefs.  The  fact  remains,  however,  that  the  Welsh 
nobles  and  the  Welsh  people  were  almost  solidly  Royalist, 
and  throughout  the  struggle  fought  bravely  and  steadfastly 
against  the  Parliamentarians  and  the  New  Model  army. 

Wales,  indeed,  played  a  great  part  in  the  war.  Such  men 
as  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  of  Raglan  Castle,  who  devoted 
his  great  resources  in  money  and  men  to  the  Royalist  cause, 
and  Sir  John  Owen  of  Clenenau,  the  Earl  of  Carbery,  Sir  Henry 
Vaughan,  the  Bulkeleys  and  Mostyns  and  Prices,  rendered 
the  greatest  assistance.  Even  such  as  lyaugharne,  Powel, 

2C  401 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

and  Poyer,  who  had  been  Parliamentarians,  subsequently 
changed  sides  when  the  disputes  between  Presbyterian  and 
Independent  arose,  and  caused  Cromwell  the  acutest  anxiety 
by  holding  his  forces  before  Pembroke  during  a  long  and 
dreary  siege.  Besides  men  Wales  gave  to  Charles  a  naturally 
strong  and  almost  impregnable  base.  Behind  the  Dee  and  the 
Severn,  commanded,  as  in  the  old  struggles  against  the  Normans, 
by  Chester,  Shrewsbury,  and  Hereford,  the  king  looked  to 
have  a  safe  ground  in  which  to  raise  troops  for  victory  or  to 
retire  upon  in  case  of  defeat.  At  the  very  commencement  of 
the  campaign  Charles  marched  to  Shrewsbury,  and  was  there 
joined  by  Mostyn  and  Salesbury  leading  some  five  thousand 
Welshmen.  At  the  same  time  Sir  John  Owen  was  busy  gather- 
ing more,  while  from  Flintshire  and  Denbighshire  new  armies 
were  gathering  at  Wrexham. 

It  was  in  this  same  year  (1642)  that  the  Royalists,  under 
I/ord  Herbert,  gained  their  first  victory  by  the  taking  of 
Cardiff  Castle.  Shortly  afterward  Charles,  now  strengthened 
by  important  Welsh  reinforcements,  turned  from  Shrewsbury 
to  march  on  London.  Of  the  campaign  from  the  battle  at 
Edgehill  until  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Royalist  party  we 
do  not  intend  to  treat  in  any  detail.  After  some  successes 
against  Sir  Thomas  Myddleton's  castle  at  Chirk  and  near  the 
Forest  of  Dean  the  Royalists  suffered  serious  losses  in  1643. 
Brereton  and  Myddleton,  the  latter  one  of  the  most  energetic 
leaders  on  the  Parliamentary  side,  captured  stronghold  after 
stronghold  in  North  Wales  with  the  aid  of  his  siege  artillery, 
an  arm  then  almost  unknown  to  the  Welsh.  Their  victorious 
career  was,  however,  checked  by  the  arrival  of  Irish  supports, 
who  were  in  turn  met  and  defeated  by  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  in 
the  beginning  of  1644. 

About  the  same  time  (January  1644)  Ix>rd  Carbery,  having 
collected  a  considerable  force  in  South  Wales,  prepared  to 
attack  the  Parliamentarian  stronghold  of  Pembroke.  The 
attempt  was  unsuccessful,  and  Laugharne,  at  that  time 
fighting  against  the  Royalists,  swept  South-west  Wales, 
capturing  Haverfordwest,  Tenby,  Carew,  and  Carmarthen. 
402 


PLATE  I/VI.    OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  SEAL,  SHOWING  FIVE 
WELSH  QUARTERIXGS 

The  natural  size  is  seen  in  the  lower  figure  :   the  upper  one 

is  an  enlarged  reproduction  402 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

As  a  result  of  this  blunder  Carbery  was  replaced  by  Charles 
Gerard,  who  succeeded  in  retaking  Carmarthen  and  Haver- 
fordwest  and  in  reducing  a  number  of  other  strongholds.  But 
these  successes  were  bitterly  paid  for,  since  Gerard's  Irish  levies 
ravaged  the  country  and  acted  in  such  a  manner  toward  the 
gentry  of  the  south  that  the  affection  of  the  whole  of  South 
Wales  for  the  Royalist  cause  was  thoroughly  shaken. 

In  September  of  the  same  year  the  Royalists  of  North 
Wales  were  broken  at  the  battle  of  Montgomery,  which  resulted 
in  the  capture  of  Montgomery  Castle,  the  scattering  of  Lang- 
dale's  army,  and  the  isolation  of  Shrewsbury.  Gerard,  mean- 
while, had  marched  to  the  assistance  of  Rupert.  I,augharne 
seized  the  opportunity  to  capture  Cardigan,  which  Gerard  had 
taken  the  year  before,  but  in  1645  Gerard  had  his  revenge, 
defeating  in  turn  Sir  John  Price,  who  had  been  made  keeper 
of  Montgomery  Castle,  at  Llanidloes,  Myddleton  near  Oswestry, 
and  I^augharne  at  Newcastle  Emlyn.  The  fruit  of  these  VK> 
tories  was  the  seizure  of  lylanidloes,  Haverfordwest,  Cardigan, 
Carew,  and  Picton  Castles. 

In  spite  of  these  successes  Gerard's  harsh  treatment  of  the 
country  through  which  he  passed  (friendly  country,  be  it 
observed)  lost  more  for  Charles  than  his  victories  had  gained. 
After  the  disastrous  defeat  at  Naseby,  when  the  king  turned 
once  more  to  Wales  for  recruits,  he  found  the  result  of  this 
false  policy  in  an  almost  complete  failure  of  the  people  to  rally  to 
his  standard.  Gerard  was  transferred  from  the  command  in 
South  Wales  to  another,  the  disgrace  being  softened  by  the  gift 
of  a  peerage. 

The  evil,  however,  had  been  done.  Welsh  loyalty  to  the 
royal  cause  was  shaken,  and  I/ord  Astley,1  who  succeeded 
to  Gerard's  command,  was  looked  upon  with  little  favour. 
The  Welsh  preferred  their  own  leaders,  and  deserted  Astley 
for  the  '  Peace  Army '  which  had  gathered  round  Colonel 
Herbert.  Meanwhile  I/augharne  was  clearing  Pembrokeshire 
of  the  enemy.  Carmarthen,  Monmouth,  Brecon,  and  New- 
castle Emlyn  all  fell  before  the  end  of  the  year. 

1  Sir  Jacob  Astley  was  made  I<ord  Astley  in  1644.  His  title  was  not 
recognized  by  the  Parliamentarians. 

4°3 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

The  year  following  saw  the  breaking  of  the  royal  power  in 
both  North  and  South  Wales.  At  the  battle  of  Denbigh 
Colonel  Michael  Jones  scattered  the  Irish  mercenaries  who 
were  hastening  from  Anglesey  to  the  relief  of  Chester,  and 
thus  greatly  contributed  to  the  reduction  of  that  stronghold. 
With  the  fall  of  Chester  the  war  in  North  Wales  was  practically 
limited  to  the  reduction  of  the  fortresses  of  Aberystwyth, 
Denbigh,  and  Harlech.  In  the  south  lyaugharne  had  suc- 
ceeded in  scattering  the  forces  raised  by  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester.  In  June  of  this  year  Carnarvon  and  Beaumaris 
were  both  taken  from  the  Royalists.  Ruthin  had  already 
capitulated.  The  first  phase  of  the  Civil  War  was  over  in 
South  Wales  when  Raglan  Castle  surrendered  on  August  19. 
In  the  north  the  struggle  dragged  on  a  little  longer.  The 
few  castles  still  resisting,  however,  eventually  surrendered— 
Denbigh  in  October,  and,  last  of  all,  as  in  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  Harlech  in  the  March  of  1647. 

The  disputes  between  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Indepen- 
dents now  resulted  in  that  alliance  between  Presbyterian 
Parliamentarian  and  Catholic  Royalist  against  the  Indepen- 
dents which  once  more  plunged  Wales  into  civil  war. 
Glamorgan  was  the  first  to  revolt,  stirred  up  by  Judge  Jenkins 
— ever  famous  for  his  reply  to  the  threat  of  the  Parliament 
to  hang  him.  He  flouted  the  House  to  its  face,  declaring  that 
he  would  "  hang  with  the  Bible  under  one  arm  and  Magna 
Carta  under  the  other."  The  Independents  had  now  to  face 
new  enemies.  Besides  the  old  leaders,  they  found  ranged 
against  them  lyaugharne,  Poyer,  and  Powel,  all  of  whom  had 
been  prominent  leaders  in  the  Parliamentarian  army,  L,augh- 
arne  being  responsible,  as  we  have  seen,  for  many  a  Royalist 
defeat  and  the  capture  of  many  Royalist  strongholds.  In  the 
north  Sir  John  Owen  had  also  succeeded  in  raising  an  army 
against  the  Independents.  After  some  temporary  success  he  was, 
however,  defeated  at  L,landegai,  taken  prisoner,  and  condemned 
to  death — a  sentence  which  was  never,  in  fact,  carried  out. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  south  matters  had  gone  equally  badly  for 
the  insurgents  lyaugharne  had  been  beaten  by  Horton  at 
404 


WALES    AND    ENGLAND    UNITED 

St.  Fagan's  in  the  May  of  1648.  Sir  Nicholas  Kemeys,  who 
had  fortified  Chepstow,  had  fallen  before  the  assault  directed 
by  Isaac  Ewer.  Oliver  Cromwell  was  laying  siege  to  Pembroke, 
in  which  Laugharne,  Powel,  and  Foyer,  with  many  gentlemen  of 
quality,  were  preparing  to  fight  out  their  fight  to  the  very  last. 
After  a  stubborn  defence  this  stronghold  submitted  on  July  n, 
and  the  three  leaders  were  captured.  It  was  decided  that  one 
alone  should  die,  the  choice  to  be  made  by  lot  drawn  by  a 
little  child.  Two  pieces  of  paper  upon  which  was  written 
'  God  giveth  life '  were  prepared.  To  these  was  added  a 
blank  sheet.  The  blank  sheet  meant  death,  and  it  was 
drawn  for  Foyer.  He  was  shot  at  Covent  Garden.  I,augharne 
and  Powel  were  exiled.  The  army  was  supreme. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  point  to  any  great  immediate 
result  which  the  war  had  upon  Wales.  Eventually,  of  course, 
the  destruction  of  the  theory  of  Divine  Right  was  as  important 
to  Wales  as  to  England,  but  it  would  seem  that  for  many 
years  Wales  kept  aloof  from  the  English  movements  in  favour 
of  Parliamentary  government  and  constitutional  and  indi- 
vidual freedom  of  thought,  of  expression,  and  of  action.  In 
truth  the  Welsh  were  still  in  a  state  of  torpor.  How  could 
they  respond  to  the  strains  of  Milton's  Arcopagitica  when  they 
had  no  native  press  ?  In  one  direction,  however,  it  may  be 
that  the  Civil  War  had  a  direct  and  immediate  effect.  In  so 
far  as  it  developed  and  increased  the  Puritan  spirit  it  aided 
those  Welsh  reformers  who  already  in  1639  nad  laid  the 
foundations  of  Welsh  Nonconformity. 

THE  NONCONFORMISTS 

The  Nonconformist  movement  in  Wales  commenced,  we  are 
told,  with  the  church  founded  by  William  Wroth  at  Llanvaches 
in  1639.  From  that  date  to  this  present  time  the  movement 
has  steadily  grown.  At  the  commencement  such  men  as 
Wroth,  Erbury,  and  Cradock  had  a  comparatively  small 
effect  upon  the  mass  of  the  people.  As  the  authors  of  The 
Welsh  People  state,  "  The  work  of  these  men  and  others 
(such  as  Vavasour  Powell,  Morgan  I/lwyd,  Hugh  Owen,  and 

405 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

James  Owen)  during  the  seventeenth  century  seems  to  have 
been  very  largely  confined  to  the  English  side  of  Welsh  life — 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  towns  and  more  Anglicized  portions  of 
the  Principality.  .  .  .  The  bulk  of  the  Welsh-speaking  popula- 
tion was  untouched  by  their  ministrations." 

The  condition  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
Wales  was,  however,  calculated  to  drive  the  people  to  other 
spiritual  advisers.    The  lower  clergy  were  hopelessly  under- 
paid, ill-educated,  licentious,  and   lazy.    The  higher  clergy 
were  pluralists,1  neglected  their  duties,  and  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  England.     It  was  only  the  mental  stupor  into  which 
the  peasantry  had  fallen  which  delayed  the  more  general 
spreading   of   the   Nonconformist   and   Independent   beliefs. 
With  the  passing  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  increase  of 
literature,  the    labours  of    such  bodies    as   the    Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  the  exertions  of  such  men 
as  James  Owen,  the  foundation  of  lending  libraries,  and  the 
development  of  a  better  educational  system,  the  Welsh  mind 
awoke   once   more.     It   was,   however,   a   Dissenting   Wales 
which  emerged  from  the  dark  period  that  had  engulfed  it 
from  the  time  when  Owain  Glyndwr  laid  down  his  sword. 
Their  very  language  had  been  preserved  to  the  Welsh  by  those 
stern  Puritans,  who  persisted  in  preaching  the  belief  that  was 
in  them  in  the  language  of  their  country,  and  in  scattering  the 
Bible  and  theological  works  in  the  Welsh  language  among 
the  peasantry.     In  later  times  the  development  of  the  Sunday 
school  also  encouraged  the  use  of  the  native  tongue.     Had  it 
not  been  for  these  movements  the  Welsh  language  might  have 
died  out  long  ago,  for  after  the  Act  of  Union,  and,  indeed, 
before,  the  landed  classes  in  the  main  regarded  it  as  a  disgrace 
to  speak  Welsh,  the  clergy  were  mainly  English  or  English- 
speaking,  and  the  schools  taught  English.     In  a  word,  all 
the  educational  leaders  favoured  English,  which  was  also  the 
official  language.     Only  those  Puritan  leaders  who  used  the 
Welsh  language  as  a  means  of  touching  the  heart  and  mind  of 

1  For  a  most  outrageous  example  see  the  account  of  the  livings  held  by 
the  I«uxmoore  family  in  Clarke's  History  of  the  Church  in  Wales,  p.  142. 

406 


TI.ATE  L,VIII.    THE  INVESTITURE  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES 
AT  CARNARVON  CASTLE,  JULY  13,  1911 

Copyright,  Central  Xews,  London 


406 


the  peasant  whom  the  others  despised  kept  alive  this  ancient 
language  as  a  living  force. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  toward  the  end  of  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  that  the  Methodist  revival  began 
to  give  Wales  that  religious  fervour  which  the  majority  of 
observers  believe  exists  in  Wales  to-day.  It  was  the  preaching 
and  the  living  example  of  such  men  as  Griffith  Jones,  Howel 
Harris,  and  Rowlands  of  Ivlangeitho,  who,  struggling  against 
continual  persecution,  still  fought  on,  that  at  last  gained  the 
victory  for  Nonconformity  and  Wales.  The  old  torpor 
gradually  disappeared,  and  before  a  century  had  passed  the 
religious  spirit  of  this  ancient  people,  who  in  the  years  that 
had  gone  had  fought  so  long  and  so  valiantly  successively  for 
Druidism,  the  British  Church,  and  the  Catholic  creed,  was  at 
last  rekindled.1 

CONCLUSION 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  our  simple  history  of  a 
gallant  people.  Of  the  nineteenth  century  we  need  say  but 
little.  Wales  has  for  many  years  been  a  loyal  and  increasingly 
important  member  of  the  English  State.  Her  history  in  these 
later  years  is  English  history,  her  commercial  development 
has  grown  side  by  side  with  the  expansion  of  English  com- 
merce. Her  agricultural  population,  though  stripped  in  the 
late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries  of  many  valuable 
rights  by  the  Inclosure  Acts,8  has  shared  in  that  prosperity 

1  History  is  put  to  an  ill  use  when  it  is  sought  to  use  it  to  stir  up  opposition 
between  different  branches  of  the  same  religion.      We  express    no   opinion 
whatever  upon  the  rival  merits  of    Church    and  Nonconformist  doctrine. 
Wales,   however,  it  seems  clear,  was  for  a  century  after  the  Reformation 
sadly  neglected  by  the  English  Church.      To-day  it  is  manifest  that   the 
majority  of  people  in  Wales  are  Nonconformist.      These   facts  are  certain 
and  must  be  stated  in  a  history. 

2  The  reader    is    referred    to  Mr.   Ivor  Bowen's  monograph.   The  Great 
Enclosures  of  Common  Lands  in  Wales,  for  details.     We  may  mention  here 
that  from  1760  to  1845,  3954  private  Inclosure  Acts  were  passed.     In  1795,  of 
the  5,100,000  acres  in  Monmouthshire  and  the  Principality,  1,696,827  acres 
were  unenclosed  waste  or  common  lands.     In  1895,  693,628  acres  only  of 
unenclosed  land  existed,  and  of  these  160,868  acres  alone  were  capable  of 
cultivation.     This  evil,  which  looks  very  like  robbery,  was  not  peculiar  to 
Wales.     England  suffered  equally. 

407 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

To-day  South  Wales,  which  in  the  past  was  ravaged  suc- 
cessively by  Brython  and  Roman,  Saxon  and  Norman,  where 
for  centuries  the  silent  woods  looked  upon  men  struggling  for 
liberty  and  mastery,  has  been  given  over  to  the  peaceful 
struggles  of  capitalists,  merchants,  and  labourers.  Great  coal 
industries  have  been  founded  and  flourish.  Important  metal- 
works  have  been  built  and  ports  have  been  created.  Univer- 
sities (that  dream  which  Glyndwr  never  realized)  have  been 
established  in  South  and  Mid  and  North  Wales.  In  the  north, 
though  the  old  woollen  and  fulling  industries  have  to  some 
extent  declined,  other  trades  and  manufactures  have  sprung 
up  and  are  flourishing.  In  a  word,  Wales  has  grown  peaceful 
and  prosperous,  litigious  but  law-abiding,  taking  her  fair  share 
in  the  arts,  in  literature,  and  in  learning. 

Thus,  after  a  stormy  history,  after  centuries  of  struggling, 
Wales  has  at  last  emerged  victorious  ;  a  nation  which,  though 
few  in  numbers,  has  preserved  a  separate  identity,  thus  confirm- 
ing the  prophetic  words  of  the  wise  man  of  Pencadeir  related 
to  us  by  Giraldus,  who,  when  speaking  to  Henry  II  of  this 
country  of  the  west,  said :  "Nor  do  I  think  that  any  other 
nation  than  this  of  Wales,  or  any  other  language,  whatever 
may  hereafter  come  to  pass,  shall,  in  the  day  of  severe  exami- 
nation before  the  Supreme  Judge,  answer  for  this  corner  of 
the  earth."  Wales  is  still  held  by  the  Welsh  people,  true  and 
loyal  now  to  the  King  of  England,  but  still  a  separate  nation. 
A  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  speaking  in  that  Cardiff 
which  in  the  past  has  seen  so  many  struggles  for  freedom,  and 
speaking  at  a  time  when  an  unparalleled  danger  threatened 
the  joint  State,  mirrored  the  thoughts  of  many  Welshmen 
when  he  said  :  "  Wales  is  a  single  and  indivisible  entity,  with 
a  life  of  its  own,  drawing  its  vitality  from  an  ancient  past,  and 
both,  I  believe,  in  the  volume  and  in  the  reality  of  its  activity 
never  more  virile  than  it  is  to-day."  Thus  has  fidelity  to 
national  ideals  been  rewarded. 


408 


NOTE  A 

BARROWS,  CROMLECHS,  DOLMENS,  AND 
GORSEDDS 

MOST  of  our  knowledge  of  the  early  history  of  man  is 
derived  from  the  burial  remains  found  in  the  ancient 
sepulchres.  The  burial-places  which  are  called  barrows  are 
to  be  seen  all  over  the  world.  They  are  found  in  North 
America,  Siberia,  China,  and  Japan,  as  well  as  in  Egypt,  South 
America,  and  throughout  Europe.  Homer  has  described  to 
us  a  form  of  barrow  burial,  and  the  story  of  Beowulf  contains 
a  not  dissimilar  account. 

The  barrow  is  a  generic  term  used  in  England,  at  any  rate 
as  early  as  Camden,  to  describe  those  mounds  of  earth  which 
were  raised  to  cover  the  stone  burial  chambers  of  Neolithic 
man,  or  in  later  times  the  cists  holding  the  cinerary  urns 
of  the  Bronze  and  Iron  Ages.  One  of  the  most  noticeable 
features  of  most  barrows,  apart  from  the  earthen  mound,  is 
the  encircling  wall  or  trench — sometimes  consisting  merely  of 
a  shallow  ditch  dug  in  the  ground  and  encircling  the  mound, 
sometimes  consisting  of  fosse  and  earthen  wall,  sometimes,  as 
at  New  Grange,  simply  a  circle  of  stones. 

The  barrow,  being  a  generic  term,  naturally  splits  up  into 
many  species,  whose  only  point  of  similarity  lies  in  the  fact 
that  in  each  case  there  is  an  earthen  sepulchral  mound.  In 
every  other  respect  one  barrow  may  differ  from  another 
completely,  both  in  point  of  date  and  in  structure, 

THE  LONG  BARROW 

The  earliest  form  of  barrow  is  the  '  long '  barrow.  Even 
the  long  barrow  divides  up  into  two  great  classes  :  the  simple, 

409 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


410 


BARROWS,    CROMLECHS,    ETC. 

unchambered  long  barrow  and  the  chambered  long  barrow. 
Both  types  belong  to  the  Stone  Age.  In  both  the  customary 
form  of  burial  was  inhumation  without  previous  cremation. 
It  is  consequently  in  these  long  barrows  that  we  usually  find 
the  skeletons  of  men  more  or  less  complete,  and  generally  bent 
into  a  sitting  posture.  Unlike  the  round  barrows,  the  long 
barrows  are  rarely  found  in  groups,  being  usually  isolated  and 
generally  occupying  a  commanding  view.  In  form  they  are 
large  mounds  several  hundred  feet  long,  thirty  or  fifty  or 
even  more  feet  wide,  and  three  to  twelve  or  more  feet  in 


I<ONG  BARROW  WITH  PERISTAUTH  AND  WAITING  RESTORED 

From  Archceologia,  vol.  xlii,  by  permission  of  the  Society  of 

Antiquaries  of  London. 

height.  Along  the  sides  a  trench  was  dug,  but  not  along  the 
ends.  Both  types  of  barrow  frequently  contained  hollows  or 
cists  scraped  out  of  the  floor.  Cremation  burial  was  very 
rare,  and  always  explainable  on  the  hypothesis  of  a  second 
interment. 

In  interior  form  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  barrows  is 
the  chambered  long  barrow.  Here  the  mound  was  heaped 
over  a  sepulchral  building  made  of  stones  wedged  together 
and  covered  over  either  by  large  flat  stones  or  by  an  arched 
roof  composed  of  stones.  The  plan  of  the  chambered  long 
barrows  was,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  illustrations  given, 
extremely  varied.  In  general,  however,  they  were  built  in  the 
form  of  a  long  passage  opening  out  into  one  or  more  chambers. 
Around  the  external  mound  was  frequently  found  a  chain  of 
encircling  stones.  The  mound  possessed  an  opening  through 
which  it  was  possible  to  enter  into  the  very  centre  of  the 

411 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

barrow.  It  was  in  the  chambers  opening  out  from  the  central 
passage  that  the  bodies  of  the  dead  were  placed — sometimes  in 
a  stone  coffin.  Frequently  at  one  end  of  the  barrow  (the 
broader  end,  for  the  barrow  was  generally  smaller  at  one  end 
than  at  the  other)  a  single  large  stone  was  placed  on  end  ; 
occasionally  two  stones  were  placed  almost  side  by  side  and 
bridged  by  a  third. 

It  often  happened  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  earthen 
covering  of  the  chambered  long  barrow  fell  away  from  the 
interior  stone  chambers  ;  these  in  turn  were  weathered  away, 
or  were  robbed  by  neighbouring  tribes  hi  want  of  building 
material.  As  a  result  we  frequently  find  isolated  monoliths  or 
triliths ;  sometimes  we  find  circles  of  stones  which  were  once 
the  walls  of  the  chambers  of  a  barrow.  Indeed,  these  stones 
are  found  in  all  kinds  of  combinations,  due  in  many  cases  not 
to  intent,  but  to  the  chances  of  the  ages.  These  uncovered 
barrows  are  known  as  cromlechs,  dolmens,  or  gorsedds. 

ROUND  BARROWS 

The  round  barrow  came  in,  roughly  speaking,  with  the 
Bronze  Age,  and  lived  on  until  Anglo-Saxon  times.  Some- 
times they  were  bowl-shaped,  sometimes  bell-shaped,  some- 
times disk-shaped.  In  most  cases  there  were  several  inter- 
ments in  the  same  barrow,  some  being  inhumations,  some 
the  burial  of  cremation  remains.  The  most  complete  descrip- 
tion of  these  barrows  and  their  interments  is  probably  that 
of  Mr.  J.  R.  Mortimer,  who  has  succeeded  in  filling  more 
than  500  quarto  pages  with  an  account  of  his  researches 
among  the  barrows  of  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  To 
attempt  even  an  analysis  of  the  numerous  accounts  of  these 
barrows  is  impossible  in  a  short  note  such  as  this,  but  the 
following  leading  points  may  be  made. 

Of  the  various  kinds  of  round  barrow  the  bowl-shaped 
variety  is  by  far  the  most  common.  The  average  height  of 
these  was  from  3  to  5  feet,  the  diameter  from  20  to  60  feet, 
and  sometimes  as  much  as  100  feet.  The  bell-shaped 
barrows  were  somewhat  larger.  The  disk-shaped  barrows 
412 


BARROWS,    CROML-ECHS,    ETC. 

vary  so  greatly  in  size  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  fix  an 
average. 

Sometimes  several  round  barrows  were  grouped  together, 
thus  forming  an  oval  barrow  looking  not  unlike  a  long  barrow 
to  the  casual  observer. 


DISK-SHAPED  ROUND  BARROW. 


BOWI,-SHAPED  ROUND  BARROW. 

From  Archceologia,  vol.  xliii,  by  permission  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  L,oiidon. 

The  interment  was  in  the  first  instance  generally  made  in 
the  centre  of  the  mound,  the  body  being  either  placed  on  the 
ground  and  then  covered  with  earth,  with  or  without  the 
protection  of  a  small  covering  of  flat  stones,  or  deposited  in  a 
grave  or  hole  or  cist,  which  was  later  filled  in,  the  mound  then 
being  heaped  over  the  place  of  burial.  Secondary  interments, 

413 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

however,  frequently  took  place,  and  these  secondary  burials 
are  in  almost  all  cases  cremation  burials,  the  urn  being  fre- 
quently sunk  into  the  sides  of  the  mound.  The  primary 
interments  are  sometimes  inhumations,  sometimes  of  crema- 
tion remains  in  cinerary  urns.  It  is  upon  this  fact  that  we 
have  expressed  the  opinion  in  the  body  of  this  work  that  the 
round  barrows  were  invented  by  the  same  people  who  used  the 
long  barrows  and  were  adopted  by  the  later  cremating  people. 
According  to  Dr.  Thurnam,  whose  articles  in  Archceologia 
have  been  largely  relied  upon  throughout  this  note,  "  When 
the  primary  interment  is  by  simple  burial,  it  usually  consists 


ROUND  BARROW  BURIAL,  SHOWING  SKELETON  PROTECTED  BY  A 

COVERING  OF  STONES. 
From  Archeeologia,  vol.  xliii,  by  permission  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. 

of  a  single  body,  though  in  some  cases  two  or  more  have  been 
interred  together  in  the  same  barrow,  which  may  then  be 
regarded  as  a  family  tomb."  When  the  corpse  was  placed  in 
a  grave  it  was  generally  covered  over  with  a  protecting  arch 
of  stones  or  clay,  and  in  many  cases  the  skeleton,  when  found, 
was  contracted.  Sometimes  it  is  evident  that  the  grave  has 
been  found  too  small  to  hold  the  corpses,  and  then  some  of 
the  bodies  have  been  placed  above  the  level  of  the  ground,  the 
whole  being  covered  with  clay  or  chalk. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  show  that  burial  in  round 
barrows  was  according  to  an  astronomical  plan,  but  it  is 
evident  from  Mr.  Mortimer's  summary  chart  that  no  particular 
direction  was  aimed  at  in  these  burials,  though,  indeed,  the 
position  with  the  head  to  the  east  was  the  most  common. 
414 


PI<ATE  LX.     UNINSCRIBKD  BRITISH  COINS 


414 


NOTE  B 
COINS 

BRITISH  coins,  which  have  been  discovered  in  some  con- 
siderable quantity  in  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland — by 
far  the  greater  number  being  found  in  south,  south-east,  and 
midland  England,  a  very  few  in  Wales,  and  an  occasional  one 
in  Scotland — date  back,  according  to  Sir  John  Evans,  to  not 
earlier  than  200  B.C.  The  earlier  coins  are  in  all  cases  unin- 
scribed,  so  that  we  know  nothing  of  the  kings  who  coined  them, 
and  are  without  exception  copies,  sometimes  close  and  some- 
times extremely  debased,  of  the  stater  of  Philip  II  of  Macedon. 
Philip  died  in  336  B.C.  These  coins  may  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Gaul  and  thence  into  Britain  after  the  plunder  of 
Greece  by  Brennus  in  279  B.C.  They  may  have  reached  this 
island  earlier  or  later  than  those  coming  along  the  usual  trade 
routes.  Pytheas  may  have  carried  an  example.  It  is  not  at 
all  probable  that  the  debased  British  copies  were  current  with 
Greek  or  Phoenician,  since,  apart  from  their  rude  workmanship, 
the  heaviest  British  coin  was  thirteen  grains  lighter  than  the 
Macedonian  stater. 

When  Caesar  landed  in  Britain  he  found  that  the  inhabitants 
used  either  "golden  money  or  thin  bars  of  iron  of  a  certain 
weight  which  pass  for  money."  The  golden  coins  here  referred 
to  were  probably  all  uninscribed  coins,  the  inscribed  coins  bear- 
ing names  of  kings  who  reigned  after  the  departure  of  Caesar. 

The  most  interesting  and  important  find  of  these  coins  was 
made  in  1848  by  a  shepherd-boy  at  Womersh,  near  Guildford. 
He  had  the  good  fortune  to  light  upon  nineteen  examples  of 
Type  6,  which  were  before  unknown,  and  which,  according  to 
Sir  John  Evans,  are  a  final  degradation  of  Type  3. 

The  inscribed  coins  mark  a  very  great  advance  in  minting 

415 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

technique.  The  coins  shown  in  Plate  61  are,  of  course,  only 
examples  of  inscribed  British  coins,  the  complete  list  of  which 
is,  thanks  mainly  to  the  learning  and  enthusiasm  of  Sir  John 
Bvans,  a  long  one.  Some  of  these  coins  show  very  considerable 
skill  on  the  part  of  the  engravers,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
dies  were  of  Roman  and  not  of  British  workmanship.  Even  as 
early  as  30  B.C.  there  appears  to  have  been  a  powerful  ruling 
family  in  Britain,  for  we  have  coins  of  no  less  than  three  of 
the  sons  of  Commius,  and  from  the  places  in  which  these  coins 
have  been  found  it  would  seem  that  this  family  ruled  over 
the  major  portion  of  south  and  south-eastern  England.  The 
designs  on  some  of  the  British  coins — e.g.  the  winged  head  of 
the  Medusa  on  some  of  the  coins  of  Tincommius — might  lead 
us  to  interesting  speculations  as  to  the  connexion  between 
Greek  and  British  culture. 

Plate  62  contains  a  few  of  the  best  examples  of  Roman 
coins  noticeable  as  bearing  the  legend  '  Britanniae '  or  as  having 
been  minted  in  Britain.  The  last  two  coins  in  this  plate— 
those  of  Carausius  and  Allectus — were  struck  toward  the  end 
of  the  third  century  A.D.  by  self-styled  Emperors  of  Britain. 
Carausius  had  been  Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore  before  287. 
In  that  year  he  took  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  the  Empire 
and  the  losses  due  to  the  invasion  of  the  Goths  and  declared 
himself  Emperor  in  Britain.  He  succeeded  in  maintaining 
his  position  until  293.  He  is  responsible  for  very  many  coins, 
some  of  which  bear  on  the  reverse  the  Roman  emblems  of  the 
wolf  and  twins,  others  the  lion  and  thunderbolt,  others  a 
woman  milking  a  cow  (representing  Rome,  Valour,  and  Fertility 
respectively).  Carausius  was  eventually  assassinated  by  one 
of  his  officers,  by  name  Allectus.  We  give  these  coins  as 
being  examples  of  those  struck  by  pseudo-emperors  whose 
powers  and  pretensions  were  similar  to  those  of  the  later 
Maximus  (before  that  leader  led  the  men  of  Britain  to  the 
Continent  in  the  bold  attempt  to  seize  the  Imperial  purple)  and 
(according  to  legend,  Nennius,  and  the  historio-romancers) 
Arthur.  The  latest  coin  given  in  Plate  62  is  that  of  Maximian, 
which  was  struck  at  the  Mint  of  I/mdon  some  time  between 
the  years  296-305. 
416 


PLATE  LXI.     INSCRIBED  BRITISH  COINS 


416 


COINS 

We  have  but  few  specimens  of  coins  struck  in  Britain  after 
the  departure  of  the  Romans  which  are  in  any  way  connected 
with  Welsh  history.  So  far  as  we  know  the  sole  example  of 
a  Welsh  coin  which  is  earlier  in  date  than  the  eleventh  century 
is  the  coin  of  Howel  Dha,  famous  as  the  Welsh  lawgiver. 
Most  of  the  coins  of  the  succeeding  centuries  found  in  Wales 
seem  to  have  been  struck  in  the  mints  attached  to  Norman 
castles.  From  pre-Norman  times  in  England  it  was,  of 
course,  customary  to  have  mints  in  very  many  places ;  practi- 
cally one  might  say  there  was  at  least  one  mint  in  every 
market-town  or  '  port.'  In  Wales,  where  commerce  was 
neglected  for  fighting,  the  need  for  coins  was  not  felt  to  the 
same  extent,  with  the  result  that  few  Welsh  coins  have  been 
preserved  to  us. 

PLATE  60  :  UNINSCRIBED  COINS 

No.  3.  This  is  perhaps  the  closest  British  copy  extant  of 
the  stater  of  Philip  II  of  Macedon,  which  was  the  original 
from  which  all  the  uninscribed  British  coins  were  copied.  A 
further  degradation  of  type  is  seen  in  No.  6. 

No.  6.  Here  the  face  is  almost  disappearing ;  the  hair  is 
becoming  the  chief  part  of  the  obverse  design.  The  horse 
has  completely  disappeared. 

Nos.  i,  2,  4,  5.  These  are  probably  later  in  date  than  No.  3, 
and  the  face  of  the  Apollo  on  the  obverse  of  the  Philip  stater 
has  completely  disappeared.  In  some  the  cruciform  design 
bears  some  resemblance  to  hair  bound  with  a  fillet.  As  time 
goes  on  even  this  disappears,  and  at  last  the  coin,  if  isolated, 
could  not  be  regarded  as  connected  in  any  way  with  the 
original  model.  The  horse,  however,  is  still  evident. 

PLATE  61  :  INSCRIBED  COINS 

No.  7.  This  coin  bears  the  legend  BODVO[C].  Such  coins 
have  been  found  near  Plymouth,  at  Bukhill,  near  Dumfries,  at 
Rodmarton  and  Birdlip,  and  at  Stow,  in  Gloucestershire. 
Dr.  Ingram  suggested  that  it  might  be  a  coin  of  Boudicca 
(Boadicea).  It  is  of  heavier  and  finer  gold  than  the  coins  of 

2D  417 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

Antedrigus,  and  according  to  Sir  John  Evans  it  is  one  of  the 
earliest  of  the  inscribed  coins  of  the  western  district.  Accord- 
ing to  the  same  authority,  probably  none  of  the  series  BODVOC, 

CATTI,   COMVX,   VO-CORIO-AD,   ANTEBRIGV,   SVEI,   and  INARA 

are  earlier  than  the  Christian  era. 

No.  8.  This  coin  of  Addedomaros  has  been  found  round 
Cambridgeshire,  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Essex,  and  Kent.  At  the 
latest  it  is  as  early  as  Tasciovanus.  Addedomaros  may  be 
the  Aedd  Mawr  of  the  Welsh  chronicles. 

No.  9.  This  is  probably  a  coin  of  Vosenos,  who  was  per- 
haps a  contemporary  of  Dubnovellaunus.  The  inscription 
reads  vosn. 

No.  10.  This  coin  was  found  near  Frome,  in  Somersetshire. 
Other  specimens  have  been  found  in  Gloucestershire  and 
Oxfordshire.  It  bears  the  legend  COMVX,  and  it  is  not  quite 
clear  whether  this  refers  to  a  king  or  to  a  community. 

Nos.  n,  12,  13.  Sir  John  Evans  regards  these  coins  as 
more  ancient  than  Cunobelinus — the  Cymbeline  of  Shakespeare. 
They  are  all  coins  of  the  sons  of  Commius,  since  we  find  the 
words  COMMI  .  p  (Commii  filius}  on  some  examples.  On  the 
coins  reproduced  the  legends  run  as  follows  :  No.  n,  obverse, 
vi — RI  ;  reverse,  co  .  F.  No.  12,  reverse,  EPPI  F  .  COM.  No.  13, 
obverse,  TINC  ;  reverse,  c  .  F. 

No.  ii  was  found  at  Romsey,  Hants.  Other  examples  have 
been  discovered  in  Sussex.  The  engraving  is  excellent. 
No.  12.  Here  the  obverse  bears  a  winged  Victory,  probably 
Roman  in  origin.  Some  of  this  king's  coins  read  EPPII,VS. 
COM  .  F.  He  was  Eppilus,  the  son  of  Commius,  and  he  ruled 
over  Kent,  most  probably  about  30-31  B.C.  No.  13  is  a  still 
more  beautiful  example  of  early  British  coinage.  The  engrav- 
ing is  not  unworthy  of  the  Greeks,  and  is  probably  the  work  of 
a  Roman  artist.  It  is  a  coin  of  Tincommius,  son  of  Commius. 
Some  of  his  coins  have  on  the  reverse  a  winged  head  of  the 
Medusa  surrounded  by  snakes.  Tincommius  coined  only  in 
gold,  so  far  as  we  know ;  his  brothers  coined  in  gold,  silver, 
and  copper. 

No.  14.  This  coin  of  Tasciovanus  was  probably  minted  some 
418 


19 


PLATE  L,XII.     ROMANO-BRITISH  COINS 


418 


COINS 

time  between  30-5  B.C.  Tasciovanus  was  a  prolific  minter, 
but  notwithstanding  that  very  many  coins  similar  to  the  one 
illustrated  were  known  it  was  not  until  1844  that  it  was  quite 
determined  whether  the  TASCIO  on  the  obverse  referred  to  a 
king,  a  tax,  or  a  people.  In  that  year  Mr.  Birch  discovered 
that  some  coins,  instead  of  reading  TASCE,  as  previously 
believed,  read  TASC  .  F,  and  were  coins  of  Cunobelinus,  the 
expanded  reading  of  that  and  other  coins  being  CVNOBEUNVS  . 
TASCIOVANNI  .  F,  or  '  Cunobeline,  the  son  of  Tasciovanus.'  For 
the  extent  of  Tasciovanus'  dominions  see  the  note  to  the  next 
coin. 

No.  15.  Legend  :  obverse,  CA — MV  ;  reverse,  CVNO.  This 
coin  of  King  Cunobelinus,  or  Cymbeline,  is  one  of  many  issued 
by  that  king.  Out  of  the  fifty-one  British  coins  given  in  the 
Monumenta  Historica  Britannica,  thirty-six  are  of  Cunobeline, 
and  Sir  John  Bvans  gives  many  more.  This  particular  coin, 
which  was  one  of  the  commonest  of  the  many  types  issued  by 
Cunobelinus,  is  particularly  interesting,  since  it  bears  the 
name  of  the  place  where  it  was  minted,  viz.  Camulodunum, 
the  later  Colchester.  Cunobelinus  was  the  son  of  Tascio- 
vanus, and  ruled  about  the  time  of  Christ  over  the  greater 
part  of  south-eastern  Britain,  including  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
Cambridgeshire,  Nottinghamshire,  Essex,  Hertfordshire,  Bed- 
fordshire, Buckinghamshire,  Oxfordshire,  Middlesex,  and  Kent. 

PLATE  62  :    ROMANO-BRITISH  COINS 

No.  16.  A  sestertius  of  Hadrian.  Minted  A.D.  119-138. 
Britannia  personified. 

No.  17.  A  medallion  of  Commodus,  A.D.  185.  Britannia 
personified. 

No.  18.  A  coin  of  Maximian,  A.D.  296-305,  struck  at  the 
Mint  of  I/ondon. 

No.  19.  Aureus  of  Carausius,  Emperor  in  Britain  A.D, 
286-293. 

No.  20.  Aureus  of  Allectus,  Emperor  in  Britain  A.D.  293- 
296. 

419 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

A  splendid  find  of  over  5000  Roman  bronze  coins  was  made 
in  1873  on  the  Little  Orme,  in  North  Wales.  Practically  all 
the  coins  are  of  the  period  305-310,  and  the  extent  of  the 
output  of  the  London  mint  (in  which  they  were  struck)  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  hardly  two  of  the  coins  are  from  the 
same  die.  It  is  believed  that  this  hoard  represents  the  military 
chest  of  the  Roman  station  which  commanded  the  pass  at 
Penrhyn.  The  reader  is  referred  for  details  to  Archaologia 
Cambrensis,  6th  Series,  vol.  ix,  p.  381. 

PLATE  63  :  WELSH  AND  NORMAN   COINS 

Comparatively  few  Welsh  coins  have  come  down  to  us, 
most  of  those  which  we  possess  having  been  coined  for  Wales 
rather  than  minted  by  Welsh  princes.  In  Plate  63  we 
give  some  examples  of  Saxon,  Welsh,  and  Norman  coins 
found  in  or  near  Wales.  By  far  the  most  interesting  coin 
shown  is  No.  I,  which  bears  on  its  obverse  the  inscription 
+  HOP/EL  REX  -.-1  and  on  its  reverse  GIL.LYZ.  According  to 
Mr.  Carlyon-Britton  this  is  a  coin  of  Howel  Dha,  the  -E 
being  C  with  a  mark  of  contraction  through  the  upright  stroke 
and  intended  for  '  Cymriorum.'  The  moneyer  was  Gillyz,  and 
we  know  that  a  minter  Gillys  coined  for  Eadgar  at  Chester  and 
Hereford.  Nos.  2  and  3  are  coins  of  Eadmund,  No.  2  being 
made  by  the  moneyer  Maeldomen  at  Chester,  and  No.  3  by 
Afra  at  Derby.  Nos.  5  and  6  are  other  Gillyz  coins.  Nos.  6 
and  7  are  Norman  coins  minted  at  Rhuddlan.  The  rest  are 
also  examples  of  Norman  coins. 


420 


:;M     iv.\,-V'»v'; 


'II 

'  -7 


W     «V 

H      o, 


NOTE  C 

WELSH  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS 

THE  ancient  Welsh  musical  instruments  were  seven  in 
number :  the  telyn,  or  harp ;  the  crwth,  a  crude 
type  of  violin  ;  the  pib-corn,  or  horn-pipe  ;  the  bagpipe  ;  the 
tabwrdd,  or  drum ;  the  corn-buelin,  or  bugle-horn ;  and,  lastly, 
that  elementary  instrument  mentioned  by  Davydd  ap  Gwilym 
and  now  known  as  the  Jew's  harp,  this  being  a  corruption  of 
the  ancient  name,  '  jaw's  harp.' 

The  harp  is,  of  course,  a  very  ancient  instrument.  When 
the  Welsh  harp  was  first  formed  is  unknown,  but  the  harp  in 
one  form  or  another  goes  back  beyond  the  days  of  the  Psalmist. 
In  Wales  it  was  extremely  popular,  and  every  household 
possessed  its  harp  and  harper.  According  to  Giraldus,  it  was 
customary  for  a  guest  to  be  entertained  on  his  arrival  "  with 
the  conversation  of  young  women  and  with  tunes  on  the 
harp."  In  the  time  of  Davydd  ap  Gwilym  it  would  appear 
that  the  harp  was  strung  either  with  leather  or  hair  strings. 
He  shows  a  strong  predilection  for  the  hair-strung  harp, 
speaking  with  contempt  of  the  "  din  of  this  leathern  harp." 
The  hair  used  was  not  bleached,  like  the  modern  catgut,  but 
was  left  in  its  natural  colour.  Strings  of  the  requisite  strength 
were  obtained  by  plaiting.  According  to  the  Welsh  laws  bards 
were  only  required  to  use  the  hair-strung  harp  before  taking 
their  degree;  afterward  they  were  allowed  to  play  on  the 
leathern  harp.  Edward  Jones,  who  wrote  a  treatise  on  Welsh 
musical  instruments  which  was  published  in  an  enlarged  form 
in  1794,  related  that  a  friend  of  his,  William  Williams,  had 
a  leathern  harp  when  a  boy.  The  body  of  it  was  hollowed  or 
scooped  out  of  a  piece  of  wood  and  covered  over  with  an 

421 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

ox's  skin,  which  was  sewed  very  tightly  at  the  back.  The 
pegs  were  made  of  bone  or  ivory.  Another  old  Welsh  harp 
seen  by  the  same  writer  (it  was  then  200  years  old)  had  one 
row  of  strings,  thirty- three  in  number.  It  was  4  feet  9  inches 
high,  and  was  made  of  sycamore  wood,  except  the  sound- 
board, which  was  of  deal.  Davydd  Benwyn,  writing  in  1584, 
gives  "  twenty-nine  strings  or  more  "  as  the  compass  of  the 
harp.  It  would  seem  that  the  old  Welsh  harp  extended  from 
G,  the  first  line  in  the  bass,  to  D  in  alt. 

The  single  harp  was  the  earliest  form,  and  in  ancient  times 
was  probably  small  in  size.  In  course  of  time  the  double 
harp  was  invented.  Sion  Bos,  the  bard,  writing  about  1450, 
mentions  a  triple-stringed  harp.  The  double  harp  contained 
from  fifty  to  sixty  strings,  the  triple  harp  as  many  as  seventy- 
five.  Jones  said  that  he  had  seen  a  painting  showing  a 
triple  harp  with  only  fifty-seven  strings  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
he  had  seen  a  modern  triple  harp  with  more  than  a  hundred. 
In  his  day  the  triple  harp  had  a  compass  of  five  octaves 
and  one  note.  He  adds  :  "  The  two  outside  rows  are  the 
diatonics,  which  are  both  tuned  in  unisons  and  in  any  key 
that  the  performer  means  to  play  in  ;  the  treble  row  of 
them  consists  of  twenty-seven  strings ;  that  is,  from  A  in  alt 
down  to  C  in  the  bass ;  and  the  opposite  row,  or  unisons 
(which  are  played  with  the  bass  hand) ,  extends  from  A  in  alt 
as  low  as  double  G  in  the  bass,  which  is  thirty-seven  strings ; 
and  the  middle  row,  being  the  flats  and  sharps,  extends  from 
alto  G  sharp  down  to  double  B  natural  in  the  bass,  consisting 
of  thirty-four  strings.  All  the  three  rows  together  amount  to 
ninety-eight  strings."  The  Welsh  harp  had,  we  believe,  no 
pedal.  When  being  played  it  was  inclined  against  the  left 
shoulder ;  the  treble  was  played  with  the  right  hand  and  the 
bass  with  the  left. 

The  crwth  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  sent  as  long  ago  as 
1770  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  by  the  Hon.  Dennis 
Barrington.  He  tells  us  that  at  that  time  there  was  but  one 
man  in  the  whole  principality  who  could  play  on  it.  His 
name  was  John  Morgan,  of  Newburgh,  in  Anglesey.  The 
422 


MUSICAL    INSTRUMENTS 

crwth  is  supposed  to  be  ati  early  form  of  violin,  though  in 
fact  the  two  instruments  are  very  different.  As  early  as 
1460  we  find  it  placed  in  juxtaposition  to  the  fiddle,  for  in 
Libeaus  Disconus  the  following  passage  occurs : 

With  sytole,  sautrye  yn  same, 
Harpe,  fydele  and  crouthe. 

The  crwth  possessed  six  strings,  two  being  touched  by  the 
thumb.     It  had  a  flat  bridge,  so  that  all  the  strings  must  of 


THE  CRWTH 
From  Archaologia,  vol.  iii. 


necessity  have  been  struck  at  once.  One  end  of  the  bridge 
went  through  the  hole  in  the  belly  of  the  instrument  and  acted 
as  sound-post.  According  to  Jones,  the  crwth  was  a  pleasant- 
toned  instrument,  commonly  used  in  olden  times  as  a  tenor 
accompaniment  to  the  harp. 

The  method  of  tuning  was  entirely  different  from  that 
adopted  in  the  case  of  the  violin,  which  is  tuned  in  fifths. 
The  strings  of  the  crwth  and  the  method  of  tuning  them, 
according  to  Jones,  were  as  follows  : 


6th, 
f, 

5th,  4th,  3rd,  2nd,  ist 

Tune  ist 
string 

Tune's  th  1  Tune  6th 
to  ist    1    to  5th 

Tune  2nd 
to  ist 

Tune  3rd    Tune  4th 
to  sth        to  3rd 

I 

k  1  \  1" 

—  •  

—  i—  ra  —  \ 

>— 

—  &  —  i  —  i-  —  i^  —  j  —  | 

! 

—  -1—  4-  ^—  \ 

1 

t        • 

£ 

1  .&.  & 

°    '        -o-            • 

423 

HISTORY    OF    WALES 

It  was,  of  course,  played  with  a  bow,  which  was  short  and 
very  bowed.  It  seems  to  have  been  common  in  Wales  and 
on  the  border,  and  Butler  could  deem  it  necessary  to  intro- 
duce a  crowder  into  Hudibras  (he  had  probably  heard  them 
while  staying  at  Ludlow  Castle).  Of  famous  performers  on 
the  instrument  the  name  of  Rhys  Grythor,  who  lived  about 
1580,  has  been  preserved  to  us.  The  instrument  itself  dates 
back  at  least  as  far  as  Giraldus. 

The  pib-corn  was  still  being  played  when  Barrington  and 
Jones  were  writing.  Barrington  says,  however,  that  it  was 
hardly  used  in  any  other  part  of  Wales  except  Anglesey. 
In  his  time  a  Mr.  Wynn  of  Penkescedd  gave  an  annual  prize 


THE  PIB-CORN 
From  Archeeologia,  vol.  iii. 

to  the  best  performer  on  the  instrument,  and  Barrington 
himself  had  heard  one  of  the  prize-winners.  He  describes 
the  tone  as  being  very  "  tolerable."  He  also  tells  us  that 
it  "  resembles  an  indifferent  hautbois."  It  was  probably 
called  a  horn-pipe  because  both  its  extremities  were  made  of 
horn.  It  was  a  reed  instrument.  Jones  tells  us  that  it  was 
played  by  the  shepherds  in  Anglesey,  "  and  tends  greatly  to 
enhance  the  innocent  delight  of  pastoral  life." 

The  bagpipe  was  not,  of  course,  by  any  means  peculiar  to 
Wales.  It  was  probably  developed  from  a  more  simple  instru- 
ment blown  directly  from  the  mouth.  lolo  Goch,  writing 
about  the  time  of  Glyndwr,  mentions  it. 

The  drum  and  the  jaw's  or  Jew's  harp  require  no  comment. 
The  bugle-horn  is  an  ancient  instrument  obtaining  its  name 
from  the  buffalo.  The  buffalo-horn  was  much  prized  in 
the  time  of  Howel,  but  rather  as  a  drinking-vessel  than  as  a 
potential  instrument  of  music. 

Giraldus  has  several  things  to  say  of  Welsh  music.  Accord- 
424 


MUSICAL    INSTRUMENTS 

ing  to  him  (we  quote  from  Sir  Richard  Colt  Hoare's  transla- 
tion), "Their  musical  instruments  charm  and  delight  the  ear 
with  their  sweetness.  ...  It  is  astonishing  that  in  so  complex 
and  rapid  a  movement  of  the  fingers  the  musical  proportions 
can  be  preserved,  and  that  throughout  the  difficult  modulations 
on  their  various  instruments  the  harmony  is  completed  with 
such  a  sweet  velocity,  so  unequal  an  equality,  so  discordant  a 
concord,  as  if  the  chords  sounded  together  fourths  or  fifths. 
They  always  begin  from  B  flat  and  return  to  the  same,  that 
the  whole  may  be  completed  under  the  sweetness  of  a  pleasing 
sound.  They  enter  into  a  movement  and  conclude  it  in  so 
delicate  a  manner,  and  play  the  little  notes  so  sportively 
under  the  blunter  sounds  of  the  bass  strings,  enlivening  with 
wanton  levity,  or  communicating  a  deeper  internal  sensa- 
tion of  pleasure,  so  that  the  perfection  of  their  art  appears 
in  the  concealment  of  it : 

Art  profits  when  concealed. 
Disgraces  when  revealed. 

From  this  cause,  those  very  strains  which  afford  deep  and 
unspeakable  mental  delight  to  those  who  have  skilfully 
penetrated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  art,  fatigue  rather  than 
gratify  the  ears  of  others,  who  seeing,  do  not  perceive,  and 
hearing,  do  not  understand ;  and  by  whom  the  finest  music 
is  esteemed  no  better  than  a  confused  and  disorderly  noise, 
and  will  be  heard  with  unwillingness  and  disgust." 

In  his  time  the  chief  instruments  were  the  harp,  pipe,  and 
crwth,  and  it  is  very  evident  from  other  parts  of  his  works  that 
the  harp  was  an  ever-present  joy  in  the  ordinary  Welsh  house- 
hold, and  that  the  crwth  was  a  highly  esteemed  though 
secondary  instrument.  The  pipe  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  equally  popular.  To-day,  of  course,  the  crwth  has  been 
completely  superseded  by  the  violin.  The  Welsh  harp,  how- 
ever, still  lives  on,  though  it  is  now  similar  in  appearance 
to  the  English  harp,  but  much  smaller.  It  is  differently 
tuned.  The  writer  was  once  fortunate  enough  to  hear  a 
well-known  Welsh  harpist  play  on  a  Welsh  harp  made  by 

4*5 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

himself.  It  was  in  the  chief  room  of  a  small  inn  in  a  typical 
Welsh  village.  The  company  was  composed  mainly  of  Welsh 
farmers,  and  many  could  not  speak  English.  In  this  very 
Welsh  setting  the  harper  struck  the  strings  of  his  instrument. 
Player  and  instrument  combined  to  produce  a  result  not 
merely  pleasing,  but  delightful. 


426 


WELSH  SEALS 

'""T'HE  following  seals  are  preserved  in  the  British  Museum, 
1      and  are  described  in  Mr.  W.  de  Gray  Birch's  Catalogue 
of  Seals. 

The  figures  in  brackets  refer  to  the  number  in  the  Catalogue. 
The  spellings  have  not  been  altered. 

[771]  Oliver  Cromwell's  signet  seal,  showing  five  Welsh 
quarterings.  (Illustration  faces  p.  402;  description, 
p.  xxxiv.) 

[820]  John  Tippetot,  first  Baron  Tiptoft  and  Powys. 

[1407]  Roland  Merrick,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  1559-66. 

[1859]  Nicholas  ap  Gurgant,  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  1148-83. 

[1865]  [1870]  Henry  of  Abergavenny,  Bishop  of  lylandafT, 
1193-1218. 

[2541]  Henry,  Abbot  of  Aberconway  ;  fifteenth  century. 

[3669]  Abbot's  first  seal  of  Neath  Cistercian  Abbey,  Glamorgan. 

[3954]  Chapter  seal  of  College  of  St.  Mary's,  St.  David's. 

[41 17], [4118]  Seal  of  Cistercian  Abbey  of  Strata  Marcella. 

[4193],  [4194]  Seal  of  Cistercian  Abbey  of  Tintern. 

[5547]  lylywelyn  ap  lorwerth,  Prince  of  North  Wales  ('the 
Great ') .  (Illustration  faces  p.  318  ;  description  p.  xxxi.) 

[5549]  Edward,  first  (English)  Prince  of  Wales.  (Illustration 
faces  p.  358  ;  description  p.  xxxiii.) 

[5617]  Madog  ap  Griffin  of  Strata  Marcella  ;  twelfth  century. 

[5803]  Pain  of  Chaworth  ;   1270. 

[5804]  Ranulf,  third  Earl  of  Chester,  1119-28.  (There  are 
other  seals  of  the  Earls  of  Chester.) 

[5833]  One  of  the  Clares'  seals. 

[5944]  Cadwallon  ap  Caradog  ;  c.  1200. 

[5946]  Morgan  ap  Caradog  (of  Aberafan) ;  twelfth  or  thir- 
teenth century. 

427 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

[5957]  Madog  ap  Gruffydd  ;   1228  ;  co.  Montgomery. 

[5971]  Conan  f .  Heliae  ;  late  twelfth  century. 

[5977]  Howel  ap  Cadwallon  of  Dolgeneu  ;  late  twelfth  century 

[5980]  L,eisan  ap  Morgan. 

[6052]  Morgan  Gam  of  Aberafan. 

[6161]  A  I/acy  seal. 

[6235]  Simon  de  Montfort's  seal. 

[6567],  [6670],  [6682]  March  or  Welsh  lady's  seals. 

Owain  Glyndwr's  Great  and  Privy  Seals  are  now  preserved 
in  Paris.  They  are  described  in  Archceologia,  vol.  xxv,  and 
are  illustrated  ante,  p.  378. 


428 


SELECTION  OF  IMPORTANT  DATES 

3600-1300  B.C.  (c.).  Circles  and  avenues  built. 

2000  B.C.  (c.).  Commencement  of  Bronze  Age  in  Albion. 

1000  B.C.  (c.).  First  Goidels  (Gaels)  arrive  in  Albion. 

300  B.C.  (c.).  Brythonic  conquest  of  Albion. 

100  B.C.  (c.).  Late  Celtic  art  reaches  its  zenith. 

55  B.C.  Caesar's  first  landing. 

50-1  B.C.  British  inscribed  coins  being  struck. 

A.D.  43  Aulus  Plautius  commences  the  Roman  conquest  of 

Britain. 
74-78.  Julius  Frontinus  reduces  the   Silures  and   Ordovices 

of  Wales. 

286-293.  Carausius  Emperor  in  Britain. 
383.  Maximus   (Maxen  Wledig)   leads    the    men    of  Britain 

against  Gratian. 

400  (c.).  Cunedda  Wledig  conquers  Gwynedd. 
409.  Saxon  and  Angle  invasion  becomes   of  serious  propor- 
tions. 

429.  Britons  win  the  Hallelujah  Battle. 

441-449.  Saxons  establish  themselves  permanently  in  Britain. 
450  (c.).  Vortigern  rules. 
504-516  (c.).  Battle  of  Mount  Badon ;    Gildas  born;  Arthur, 

the  legendary  king  of  the  Britons,  flourishes. 
571.  Battle  of  Deorham  separates  Welsh  from  the  men  of 

Cornwall  (the  West  Welsh). 

584.  Battle  of  Fethan-lea  ;  Ceawlin  beaten  back  from  Cheshire. 
613  (c.).  Battle  of  Chester  separates  Welsh  from  the  Britons 

of  Strathclyde. 
617  (c.).  Cadwallawn,  the  devastator  of  Northumbria  and  ally 

of  Penda,  commences  to  rule  over  Gwynedd. 
633.  Cadwallawn  wins  victory  of  Hatfield  Chase  (Heathfield). 

429 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 

664-683  (c.)   (probably  664).    Cadwalader,  last  of  the  kings 
of  Britain,  dies  of  the  plague. 

844.  Rhodri  Mawr  succeeds  Merfyn  Frych. 

850  (c.).  Norse  and  Danes  begin  to  ravage  Wales. 

928  (c.).  Howel  Dha's  laws  compiled. 

950.  Howel  Dha  dies. 
1039.  Gruffydd  ap  I4ywelyn  succeeds  lago. 
1063.  Harold  Godwinson  plans  Gruffydd' s  death. 
1066.  The  Normans. 
1070.  Bleddyn  sole  Prince  of  Powys. 
1075.  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  ;    reigned  intermittently  between 

1075  and  1137  (lived  1054-1137). 
1081.  Battle  of  Mynydd  Cam. 
noo  (c.).  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  born. 
1137-70.  Owain  Gwynedd  leader  of  the  Welsh. 
1140  (c.).  Walter  Map  born. 
1147  (c.).  Giraldus  Cambrensis  born. 
1170-97.  The  I^ord  Rhys  leader  of  the  Welsh  (born  1132). 
1197-1200.  lylywelyn  and  Gwenwynwyn. 
1200-40  (c.).  I^lywelyn  the  Great  becomes  the  chief  prince  in 

Wales. 

12 16.  Welsh  Parliament  meets  at  Aberdovey. 
1233.  lylywelyn  overruns  South  Wales. 
1240-46.  David,  Gruffudd,  and  Henry  III  at  feud. 
1246-58.  I4ywelyn's  rise  to  power. 
1258.  Welsh  chieftains  take  oath  of  fidelity  to  I4ywelyn. 

1282.  Edwardian  Conquest ;  death  of  I/lywelyn. 

1283.  David  ap  Gruffudd  put  to  death. 
1294.  Madog's  rebellion. 

1322.  First  Welsh  members  returned  to  Parliament. 

1349.  The  Black  Death. 

1359.  Owain  Glyndwr  born. 

1400.  Owain  Glyndwr  rebels. 

1403.  Battle  of  Shrewsbury. 

1415  (c.).  Owain  Glyndwr  dies. 

1485.  Bosworth  Field ;   Henry  Tudor  ascends  the   English 

Throne. 
430 


IMPORTANT    DATES 

1534-43.  Rowland  I^ee  president  of  the  Council  of  Wales. 

1535.  Act  of  Union  passed. 

1536.  Welsh  Parliamentary  representation  becomes  constant. 
1639.  Commencement  of  Nonconformist  movement. 

1642.  Civil  War  commences. 

1647.  Harlech  Castle  falls. 

1719.  First  Welsh  book  printed  in  Wales. 

1760-1845.  Inclosure  Acts  mainly  passed. 


431 


INDEX 


In  using  the  Index  the  following  points  may  usefully  be  borne  in 
mind  :  ae  and  a  ('  Caer  '  and  '  Car  ')  ;  Cy  and  Ki  ('  Cydweli '  and 
'  Kidwelly  ')  ;  /  and  v  ('  Dyfed  '  and  '  Dyved  ')  ;  g  and  c  ('  Madog  ' 
and  '  Madoc  ')  ;  y  and  *',  o,  e  ('  Tywi,'  '  Towi '  ;  '  Dynefwr,'  '  Dine- 
vor  ' ;  '  Meirionydd,'  '  Merioneth  ')  ;  dd  and  th  ;  o  and  w,  are  to 
some  extent  interchangeable  in  Welsh  spelling,  though  a  consistent 
spelling  of  the  same  word,  unless  for  good  reason,  has  been  adopted 
in  the  present  book. 

Contractions  used  :   ap  =  son  of  ;   vz  =  daughter  of. 

Pronunciations  :  dd  =  soft  th  in  English.  LI  =  thl  (soft),  g  in 
such  words  as  Madog  =  ck  or  hard  c  ;  e.g.  Madog  =  '  Maddock.' 
c  is  always  hard.  /  =  v.  ff  =  f.  w  =  long  o.  The  stress  is  on 
the  penultimate  ;  e.g.  Cadwgan  =  '  Cado'gan.' 


ABER,  56 

Aberafan  Castle,  267,  272,  279 

Aberconway,  or  Conway,  Treaty  of, 

345 

Aber  Corran  (Laugharne)  Castle,  285 
Aberdovey  (Aber  Dyvi),  85,  86,  170, 

262,  267,  319 

Aber  Dyvi — see  Aberdovey 
Aber  Einion  Castle,  281 
Aberffraw,  82,  96,  108,  151,  166 
Abergavenny,  56,  376 
Abergavenny  Castle,  224,  238,  312, 

324 

Abergwaun,  151 
Abergwyli,  battle  of,  165 
Aberhonddu  Castle,    191,   312,   316, 

324.     See  also  Brecon  Castle 
Aberlleiniog  Castle,  184,  253 
Aberllychwer  Castle,  267 
Abermenai,  246,  248,  252 
Aber  Nedd,  262 
Aberriw,  200 
Aberteifi     (Aberteivi,     Aber     Tywi) 

Castle,  199,  264,  272,  284,  288,  314, 

317.     See  also  Cardigan  Castle 
Aberteivi — see  Aberteifi 
Aber  Tywi — see  Aberteifi 
Aberystwyth,  199,  261,  288 
Aberystwyth  Castle,  261,   263,  288, 

306,  309,  319,  346,  384,  404 


2  E 


Ada  Sanctorum,  223,  228 

Act  of  Union  (1535),  392,  393.  396- 

397 

Addedomaros,  418 
Adonis,  and  the  Arthur  conception 

202,  203 

Aeddan  ap  Blegywryd,  164 
Aedd  Mawr,  418 
Aelfgar  Leofricson,  172,  173,  174 
Aelfric,  162  n. 
Aelle,  75 
Acre,  251 
Aesc,  72 
Aethelbald,  143 
Aethelflaed,  the  Lady,  156 
Aethelfrith,  79,  80,  94,  96 
Aethelred  of  Mercia,  154 
Aethelred  the  Redeless,  166 
Aethelstan,  158,  159 
Aethelwulf,  149,  153 
Aetius,  41 
Afra,  420 
Agency,  134 

Agincourt,  the  Welsh  at,  388,  391 
Agricola,  54-55 
Agriculture,  114,  115-116 
Ailill.  206 
Aillechwdd,  256 

Airem,  the  story  of,  205-206,  207,  208 
Alaw,  xxviii 

433 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


Albion,  67 

Alexander  I  of  Scotland,  256 

Alexander  III,  343 

Alexander  IV,  Pope,  338 

Alfred,  King,  112,  148,  154,  155,  156, 

159 

Alhune,  Bishop,  152  «. 

Allectus,  416,  419 

Allen,  J.  Romilly,  42-43 

Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  76 

Anarawd  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  263 

Anarawd  ap  Rhodri,  153,  154,  155, 
156 

Anarawd  ap  Rhys,  286  «. 

Anastasius  III,  Pope,  157 

Anderida,  68  ;  massacre  at,  72 

Angharad,  mother  of  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis,  296 

Angharad  vz  Maredudd,  164 

Angharad  vz  Meurig,  149 

Angles,  70,  71,  83 

Anglesey,  xxviii,  53,  54,  56  and  n. 
83,  107,  151,  152,  153,  155,  163' 
166,  167,  184,  192,  247,  251,  252' 
254.  255.  269,  271,  301,  345,  347' 
351  «•,  373.  387,  404,  424  ;  deriva-' 
tion  of  name,  151  ;  ancient, 
importance  of,  151  ;  Normans  in 
possession  of,  255  ;  Giraldus  Cam- 
orensis  on,  301  ;  becomes  a  county, 
351  n.  See  also  M6n 

Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  71,  72  n., 
76,  83,  140,  150,  158,  162  n,,  189, 
223  n. 

Anglo-Saxon  invasion  of  Britain, 
67-80  ;  contrasted  with  the  Nor- 
man Conquest,  75 

Anian,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  341 

Annales  Cambriae,  76,  82  «.,  91,  97, 
98,  99,  112,  140,  143,  152,  157,  168, 
189,  257,  273.  327 

Antedrigus,  418 

Antoninus  Pius,  64 

Arawn,  208 

Arberth — see  Narberth 

Arbitration  among  the  ancient  Welsh, 
131-132 

Architecture,  domestic,  118-119  ; 
castle,  225-236 

Ardden  vz  Robert  ap  Seisyll,  168 

Arderydd,  95 

Ardudwy,  252,  256 

Armitage,  Mrs.,  227  «. 

Armorica,  142,  143 

Armour,  134 

Arnold's  Castle,  224 

Arnulf,  192,  193 

434 


Art,  Brythonic  or  I^ate  Celtic,  xxiii, 
xxiv,  42-44 

Artchorp,  12 

Arten,  203 

Arthur,  King,  76,  89-92,  93,  107, 
201-220,  290,  292 

Arthurian  legends,  47  ;  widespread 
influence  and  dissemination  of, 
201-204  ;  origin  of,  202-210 ; 
factors  in  the  dissemination  of, 
210-214 ;  Irish  influence  upon, 
211  ;  connexion  between,  and 
the  Continental  stories  of  Lancelot 
and  Parsifal,  214-218  ;  historical 
value  of,  218-219  ;  influence  upon 
the  age  of  chivalry,  201,  219-220  ; 
Walter  Map  and,  294,  295 

Artio,  or  Artius,  203,  207 

Arundel,  Earl  of,  369,  371,  376 

Arundel,  Earl  of,  Justiciary  of  Wales, 

397 
Arvon,  xxxiii,  95,  96,  107,  184,  187, 

246,  252 

Arwystli,  187,  249,  251,  274,  287,  322 
Asquith,    Right    Hon.    H.    H.,    on 

Wales,  408 

Asser,  xxvii,  112,  153,  154 
Astley,  lyord,  403 

Astronomy,  the  early  Welsh  and,  79 
Atrebates,  39 
Augustine,  St.,  78-79,  115 
Aulus  Plautius,  49,  50 
Aureton,  or  Orleton,  Castle  (Richard's 

Castle),  226,  227 
Avebury,  megaliths  at,  19 
Avenger,  tribal,  106 
Avenues,  megalithic,  16-17 
Avranches,    Hugh    of — see    Chester, 

Hugh  of 

Avranches,  Richard  of,  181 
'  Aylesford  Pail,'  the,  xxiv 


BAAL,  or  Bel,  xxii ;  worship  of,  in 
early  Britain,  5,  6,  13,  22,  26 

Baalbek,  megaliths  at,  19 

Badon,  Mount,  battle  of,  76,  91 

Bala  Castle,  305 

Baldwin,  xxxii 

Baldwin,  Archbishop,  298,  301 

Ballinger,  Mr.  John,  -reiV 

Ballista,  240,  241 

Bangor,  79,  95,  115,  184,  308 

Bards,  Welsh,  110-113,  114,  123, 
141-142,  421  ;  Henry  IV's  law 
against,  372 

Bardsey  Isle,  210 


INDEX 


Barri,  or  Barry,  Gerald  de — see 
Giraldus  Cambrensis 

Barri,  William  de,  296 

Barringtou,  the  Hon.  Dennis,  422,  424 

Barrows,  409-414 

Basingwerk,  115,  270 

Basingwerk  Abbey,  xxx 

Basingwerk  Castle,  277 

Bath,  77 

Bath,  the,  in  early  Wales,  137 

Bathan-Ceaster,  77 

Bauzan,  English  officer,  335,  336 

Bayeux  Tapestry,  xxix,  227  n. 

Beauchamp,  Richard,  384 

Beaucharnp,  William,  Earl  of  War- 
wick, 355 

Beaufort,  Margaret,  394 

Beaumaris,  404 

Beaumaris  Castle,  355 

Bee,  Walter  de,  261 

Becket,  Thomas  a,  281 

Bede,  68,  71,  90,  94 

Bedford,  77 

Bel — see  Baal 

Belgae,  39 

Beli,  96 

Belleme,  Robert  of,  192,  193 

Bellot,  Dr.,  114  n. 

Benfras,  Dafydd,  328 

Benwyn,  Davydd,  422 

Berfeddwlad,  Y,  107 

Bernicia,  79,  94 

Berwyn  range,  275-276,  377,  389 

Beuno,  St.,  xxvii 

Bible,  translated  into  Welsh,  392, 
400 

Billingsley,  Truce  of,  173 

Birch,  Mr.  de  Gray,  xxxi,  xxxiii, 
xxxiv,  419,  427 

Bishopstree  (Bistre),  176 

Black  Book  of  Carmarthen,  47 

Black  Death,  352,  359-361,365,  366, 

367 

Black  Normans,'  155 
'  Black  pagans,'  150,  155,  161,  163 
Blaenllyvni     (Blaen    ijyfni)    Castle, 

312 
Bleddyn  ap  Cynvyn,   182,   184-186, 

188,  191,  246,  369 

Bleddyn,  Prince  of  Powys,  121,  123 
Bledhericus,  213 
Blegywryd,  112,  157 
Bleheris  (Bledhericus,  Breris),  213 
Blihis,  Master,  213 
Blood  feud,  135 
Bloody  Acre,  battle  of  the,  187 
Blue  Bard  of  the  Chair,  112 


Boadicea,  or  Boudicca,  52-53,  417 

Bochas,  89 

Bodmiii,  megaliths  at,  19 

Bodyddon,  or  Bydydou,  Castle,  335 

Bohun,  Humphrey  de  (i),  338,  339 

Bohun,  Humphrey  de  (2),  358 

Boneddigion,  109 

Borron,  Robert  de,  212 

Bors,  217 

Bort,  217 

Bosworth  Field,  394,  395 

Bowen,  Ivor,  407  n. 

Bows  and  bowmen,  237,  238 

Brabant,  William  of,  198 

Bran,  215,  217 

Brandegore,  King,  217 

Brandon  Flint  Mines,  8 

Branodunum,  68 

Brassempuoy,  Figurine  de,  xxi 

Brattice,  the,  234 

Breaute',  Faulkes  de,  306,  309,  311 

Brecknock,  281,  306,  397 

Brecknock,  Henry  of,  283 

Brecon,  344 

Brecon  Castle,  312  «.,  324,  403 

Brehon,  31 

Breose,  Giles  de,  312 

Breose,  Isabella  de,  313 

Breose,  John  de,  313,  319,  323 

Breose,  Matilda  de,  316 

Breose,  Matilda  de,  wife  of  Gruffydd 

ap  Rhys,  313 
Breose,    Matilda   de,    wife   of    Rhys 

Mechyll,  313 
Breose,  Robert  (or  Reginald)  de,  312, 

316 
Breose,  the  house  of,  306,  313,  314, 

316,  319 

Breose,  William  de,  306,  322,  323  «. 
Breris,  213 
Brescy,  Roger,  382 
Bretons,  39 
Brewer,  J.  S.,  297 
Bridgnorth,  372 
Bridguorth  Castle,  192,  269 
Brigantes,  52 
Bristol,  Earl  of,  279 
Britain,  ancient  inhabitants  of,  2-14 
Brittani,  39 
Brittany,  142-143 
Brochmail,  xxvi,  79  and  n.,  80 
Broigar,  megaliths  at,  19 
Bromfield,  344 
Bromfield  Castle,  264  n. 
Bronwen,  xxviii-xxix,  xxxiv,  204  n. 
Bronwen  the  Daughter  of  Llyr,  204  n. 
Bron  yr  Erw,  battle  of,  187 

435 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


Bronze  Age  in  Britain,  9-11 

Bronze,  introduction  of,  into  Britain, 
9,  38  ;  prejudice  against,  34 

Brut  Geoffrey  ap  Arthur,  47 

Brut  Gruffydd  ab  Arthur,  292 

Brut,  Roman  de,  212 

Brut  Saeson,  273 

Brut  Tysilio,  292 

Brut  y  Brenhinoedd,  292 

Brut  y  Tywysogion,  70, 71, 91, 139, 143, 
162  n.,  168  n.,  169,  174,  182,  193, 
194,  252,  256,  257,  261,  262,  265, 
273,283,  284,  286«.,  288,  293  and 
n-,  3°7.  308,  311,  315,  3i6».,3i7, 
322,  333,  335,  346 

Brute,  Walter,  367 

Brychemiog   145,  154,  155,  156,  190, 

324 

Bryn  Derwm,  334 
Bryn-glas,  375 
Bryn-y-pin,  271 
Brythons,  4,  8  n.,  12,  36,  37,  38-47, 

62,  67,  81,  82  and  n.,  83,  86 
Buddugre  Castle,  266 
Buellt — see  Builth 
Builth,  or  Buellt,  145,  316,  331,  335, 

337 
Builth  Castle,  226,  312  «.,  320,  322, 

337.  348 

Bulkeley,  Bishop,  400  n. 
Bulkeley,  family  of,  401 
Burgh,  Hubert  de,  xxxii,  318,  320, 

321,  322,  323,  324 
Burh,  226-228 
Burhred,  149,  152  n. 
Buttington,  battle  of,  154-155 
Bychan,  272,  315 
Bydydon,  or  Bodyddon,  Castle,  335 

CADAFAEI,,  98  «. 

Cadell,  king  of  Powys,  xxvi 

Cadell  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  265,  266, 

272,  278,  279 

Cadell  ap  Rhodri,  153,  155,  156 
Cad van,  96 

Cadwalader  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Cynan, 
258,  261,  263,  265,  266,  269,  271, 

273,  275,  277,  279 
Cadwalader  ap  Seisyll,  283 
Cadwaladr    Vendigaid,     98-99,     139 

and  n.,  142 

Cadwallawn,  or  Caedwalla,  96-98, 139 
Cadwallawn  ap  leuaf,  161,  162 
Cadwallon  ap  Gruffydd,  258 
Cadwgan  ap  Bleddyn,  186,  191,  192, 

!93.  194.   I95i  196,  197-200,  254, 

255 


Cadwgan  ap  Cadwalader,  266 
Caedwalla — see  Cadwallawn 
Caereinion,  or  Careinion,   199,   200, 

„  277.  335 

Caereinion  Castle,  267 

Caerflos,  56 

Caergai,  56 

Caerhun,  51,  55 

Caerlegion,  79 

Caerleon  (Chester),  308 

Caerleon-upon-Usk,  52,  53,  55,  61,  91, 

162  «.,  283 
Caermarthen      (later      Carmarthen), 

xxxiii.  56,  286.  311,  346,  357,  359, 

402,  403 
Caermarthen  Castle,   263,   264,   265, 

266,  272,  278,  279,  314,  315,  317, 

319,  320,  324,  354 
Caernarvon     (later  Carnarvon),    56, 

404 
Caernarvon      Castle,      xxxii  -  xxxiii, 

xxxiy-xxxv,  184,353,354,382,  383 
Caerphilly  Castle,  xxix,  233-236,  343, 

354 

Caersws,  56 
Caerwedros  Castle,  261 
Caerwent,  xxv,  40,  56,  63,  73  n. 
Caerwys,  Eisteddfod  of,  400 
Caer-yn-Arvon,  xxxiii 
Caethion,  109 
Cain  Lanamhna,  134 
Caio,  56  ». 

Calendar  of  Close  Rolls,  357 
Calleva,  39 

Cambriae  Epitome,  The,  296 
Cambrian  Archaeological  Association, 

xxxi 
Cambridge,  Uywelyn  the  Great  and 

King  John  at,  309 
Camelot,  90,  113  n.  ;  battle  of,  209 
Camlan  (Camelot),  113  «.,  209 
Camulodunum,  50,  52,  53,  419 
Canghellor,  108 
Canovium,  xxv 
Cantref,  107,  108, 
Canwyll  y  Cymry,  400 
Capgrave,  J.,  369 
Caracalla,  64-65 
Caradigan,  215 
Caradoc — see  Caratacus 
Caradoc  ap  Gruffydd,  249,  250 
Caradoc,  Mount,  51 
Caradoc  Vreichfras,  xxxiv 
Caradog  ap  Gruffydd,  180,  182,  187, 

188,  189 

Caradog,  king  of  Gwynedd,  146 
Caradog  of  ijancarvan,  145 


436 


INDEX 


Caratacus  (Caractacus,  Caradoc),  40, 

5°.  51-52.  204  «• 

Carausius,  416,  419 

Carbery,  Earl  of,  401,  402 

Cardiff,  56,  359,  376,  408 

Cardiff  Castle,  190  «.,  229,  231,  324, 
402 

Cardiff  Motte,  190 

Cardigan,  83,  262,  323,  354,  403 

Cardigan  Castle,  262,  276,  280,  314, 
320,  321,  323,  331,  388,  403  See 
also  Aberteifi 

Cardiganshire,  351  n. 

Cardinham,  215 

Careinion — see  Caereinion 

Carew  Castle,  xxxiii,  402 

Carew  family,  xxxi 

Carlyon-Britton,  Mr.,  420 

Carmarthen — see  Caermarthen 

Carmarthenshire,  351  «. 

Cam  Mountain,  battle  of,  188 

Carnarvon — see  Caernarvon 

Carnarvonshire,  351  n. 

Carnwyllion  Castle,  313,  315 

Carreg  Cennen  Castle,  346 

Carreghofa  Castle,  274 

Carrog,  xxxiii 

Cassivellaunus,  49 

Castel  Coch,  242.  See  also  Trallwng 
Castle  and  Pool  Castle 

Castell  Collen,  56 

Castell  Gwys,  265.     See  also  Wiston 

Castell  Hen,  313 

Castell  Howell — see  Howel  Castle 

Castle  architecture,  225-236 

Castle  Baldwin,  155 

Castle  Flemish,  56  «. 

Castle  Humphry,  263,  272 

Castle  Loughor  (Llychwr),  313 

Castle  Rhuddlan,  183,  186 

Castles,  the  Norman,  221-244 ;  de- 
struction of,  in  Gwynedd,  under 
Gruffydd  ap  Cynan,  and  in  Powys, 

252-253,  254 

'  Cat,'  the,  238 

Cat,  the,  in  ancient  Wales,  25,  126 

Catapult,  240 

Catgualart,  99 

Catguollaun,  97,  99 

Cathbad,  the  Druid,  29 

Catherine  vz  Owain  Glyndwr,  389 

Cato,  M.  Porcius,  on  Gallic  charac- 
teristics, 45 

Cattwg,  115 

Catuvellauni,  xxv,  50 

Caxton,  William,  on  King  Arthur, 
89-90 


Ceadwalla,  139  n. 

Ceawlin,  75,  76,  77,  78 

Cebur,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  157 

Cecil,  family  of,  392 

Cediver  of  Dyfed,  190  n. 

Cefn  Digoll,  battle  of,  356 

Cefnllys  Castle,  338 

Ceiriog,  Vale  of,  275 

Celestine  I,  Pope,  75 

Celtic  art,  I/ate,  42-44 

Celts,    12,    37,    39 ;     art   of,    42-44  ; 

influence  of  the  Roman  occupation 

of  Britain  upon,  60-62 
Celynwg,  95 

Cemais,  108,  262,  313,  314,  315,  336 
Cemais  Castle,  356 
Cenadoc  ap  lestyn,  377 
Cennadlog,  forest  of,  269 
Ceolwulf ,  75 
Cerdic,  75 
Ceredig,  83 
Ceredigion,  or  Keredigion,  83,  145, 

149,  161,  163,  183,  191,  192,  193, 

194,  197,  198,  199,  215,  260,  261, 

263,  266,  276,  279,  280,  288,  314, 

315,  3i6,  335,  344 
Charlemagne,  143 
Charles  I,  402,  403 
Charles   VI   of   France,    allied   with 

Owain  Glyndwr,  385,  386 
Charlton,  Edward  de,  387 
Chattels,   early   Welsh,   and   values, 

I2O-I2I 

Chaucer,  129,  131,  364 

Chepstow,  404 

Chepstow  Castle,  183 

Cherlton,  John  de,  357,  358 

Chester,  xxviii,  50, 53, 55, 61, 156, 268, 
376;  battle  of,  76,  79-80,  91,  96, 
114 ;  Welsh  under-kings  swear 
fealty  to  Edgar  the  Peaceful  at, 
161-162  ;  in  Norman  hands,  181  ; 
William  the  Conqueror  at,  182  ; 
Gruffydd  ap  Cynan  a  prisoner  in, 
251  ;  John's  gatherings  against 
Llywelyn  at,  308,  310 ;  Gwen- 
wynwyn  flees  to,  315 ;  Henry 
III  at,  332,  336 ;  retaken  by 
English,  340 ;  Edward  I's  base, 
345  ;  and  the  Slatulum  de  anno 
secundo,  372 ;  Welsh  summoned 
to  submit  to  Henry  IV  at,  374  ; 
in  the  Civil  War,  404  ;  mintage  at, 
420 

Chester,  Earl  of,  307 

Chester,  Hugh  of,  xxviii,  183,  184, 
248,  251  252,  254,  255,  256 

437 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


Chester,  Ranulf  of,  264,  265,  319 

Chester,  Richard,  Earl  of,  256 

Chief,  tribal,  106 

Chirbury,  Lord  Herbert  of,  352 

Chirk  Castle,  402 

Chivalry,  the  age  of,  and  the  Arthur 

stories,  201,  219-220 
Chretien  de  Troyes,  207  «.,  212,  213, 

215,  216,  217,  294 
Christianity,    introduction    of,    into 

Britain,  61,  78,   115  ;    established 

as  the  dominant  religion,  98  n. 
Chronicles  of  the  Princes,  98,  99,  139, 

140,  144,  145,  146,  157,  164,  168, 

185,  332 
Church  of  England,  and  Wales,  401, 

406,  407  n. 
Church  Stretton,  51 
Cilgerran  Castle,  xxxi,  276,  280,  314, 

315 

Cinglas,  93 
Ciimamus,  xxyi 
Circles,  megalithic,  15-27 
Cirencester,  77 
Cissa,  75 

Civil  War,  the,  Wales  and,  401-405 
Clare,  Earl  of,  333 
Clare,  family  of,  279 
Clare,  Gilbert  de,  235 
Clare,     Richard     de     (Richard    fitz 

Gilbert),  260 
Clare,  Richard  of,  281 
Clark,    G.    T.,    xxix,    xxxi,    xxxiii, 

xxxiv,     226,     229 «.,      230,     231, 

233  nn.,  242 
Claudius,  Emperor,  and  the  Druids, 

"3 

Clement  VI,  Pope,  360 
Cleopatra's  Needle,  19 
Clifford  Castle,  181 
Clifford,  family  of,  279 
Cloten,  84 

Clothing,  in  early  Wales,  121 
Clutorios,  xxiv 
Clwyd,  Vale  of,  274 
Clydog  ap  Cadell,  156 
Clynnog,  166 
Cnut,  85,  150 
Coch,  Castel,  242.     See  also  Trallwng 

Castle  and  Pool  Castle 
Cockayne,  T.,  xxvi 
Codex  Diplomaticus,  152 
Coed  Grono  (Grwyne),  260 
Coel  Odebog,  84 
Coelbren,  56 
Coinmail,  77 
Coins,  44,  50,  415-420 

438 


Coles,  F.  R.,  21 

Coleshill,  115,  269  n.,  270,  388 

Coligny  Calendar,  17,  30  n. 

Collen  Castle,  56 

Collwyn  Ap-Tangno,  xxxiv 

Collwyn  of  Anglesey,  247 

Columba,  St.,  119  n. 

Colunwy,  324 

Colwyn  Castle,  264,  286,  313 

Commius,  49,  50,  416,  418 

Commodus,  419 

Commot,  or  cymwd,  107,  108 

Conan,  164 

Coaan  ap  Owain,  265,  266,  267,  279 

Conan  ap  Owain  Gwynedd.  270 

Conan  ap  Rhodri  Molwynog,  144, 145, 

146 

Concenn,  xxvi 
Condidan,  77 

Constantine  the  Great,  in  Britain,  65 
Constantius  Chlorus,  65 
Consyllt,  battle  of,  266 
Contract,  early  Welsh  law  relating  to, 

128-130,  131 
Conway,   monastery  of,  xxxii,   140  ; 

battle   of,    152,    154 ;     Treaty   of, 

345  ;   Edward  I  at,  355 
Conway  Castle,  xxxii 
Corfe  Castle,  344 
Cornwall,  Earl  of,  353 
Cornwall,  the  Cymry  in,  67,  76,  77,  81 
Corwen,  275,  280 
Council  of  the  Marches  (or  of  Wales) , 

23L  353.  392i  395-396 
'  Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore,'  68 
Counties,  division  into,  351,  397 
Courcy,  Robert  de,  270 
Courts,  early  Welsh,  131 
Coytmor,  Howel,  xxxii 
Cradock,  W.,  405 
Crellan,  or  Gellan,  253 
Cremation  in  early  times,  411,  414 
Crime,  law  relating  to,  134-136 
Crogen  Castle,  305 
Cromlechs,  412 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  xxxiv,  402,  405 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  392,  396 
Crosses,  Celtic,  xxvii 
Crumbwell,  John  de,  358 
Crwth, the,  421-424 
Cumberland,  the   Cymry  in,   67,  80, 

81 

Cumbria,  86 

Cunedda,  house  of,  xxvii,  148 
Cunedda  Wledig,  81-83,  85,  96 
Cuneglasus,  93 
Cunobelinus,  50,  418,  419 


INDEX 


Cures  and  cunning,  xxvi,  119-120 

Cutha,  75,  76 

Cuthwine,  77 

Cwmbrwyn,  56 

Cwm  Hir,  348  ;  abbey  of,  374 

Cydewain,  342 

Cydweli,  or  Kidwelly,  145,  163,  193, 
194,  266,  313,  320 

Cydweli  Castle,  -mri-y,  260,  315,  367 

Cyfeiliog,  156,  267 

Cyfnerth,  160 

Cymerau,  battle  of,  336 

Cymmrodor,  Y,  xxvi,  77  nn.,  79  n., 
92  n. 

Cymru,  87,  88 

Cymry,  77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  94;  land- 
tenure  under,  86-88,  101-105  ; 
tribal  customs  of,  101-104,  106- 
107 ;  marriage  customs  of,  103- 
104;  everyday  life  of,  115-118; 
united  under  Rhodri  Mawr,  149 

Cymwd,  the,  107,  108 

Cynan  ap  lago,  245 

Cynfael  Castle,  266 

Cyngen,  149 

Cynric,  75,  76,  92 

Cynvrig,  263 

Cynvyn,  185 

Cynwreid,  Isle  of,  312 

Cynwric  ap  Rhiwafion,  246 

Cynwric  the  Tall,  251 

Cystennin  ab  lago,  167 

Cyvarwys,  102 


Da,  102 

Dafydd  ab  Edmund,  399 

Danes,   the,    and   Wales,    148,    149, 

ISO-JSS.    154-156,    163,    166-167, 

172,  246-250,  254 
Danu,  or  Dana,  13  «. 
Daron,  Dafydd,  377 
David  ap  Gruffudd,  334,  339,   342, 

343.  345.  346-348.  35° 
David  ap  Uywelyn,  313,  319,  323  «., 

327,  329-333 

David  ap  Owain,  121,  270,  274,  284 
David  le  Palmer,  359 
David,    St.,    94,    115;     Henry    II's 

pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of,  282 
Davies,  Dr.  Richard,  400 
Davies,  Edward,  26 
Davydd  ap  Gwilym,  xxix,  362-363, 

364.  421 

Debt,  law  relating  to,  131-134 
De  Casu  Principum,  89 
Deceangi,  51 


De'chelette,  M.,  20  and  n.,  23,  63 

De  Falsa  Moneta,  357 

Deganwy,  or  Dyganwy,  82,  96,  183, 

3°8,  332,  333.  336,  339.  345 
Deganwy   Castle,   xxvii-xxviii,    148, 

183,  184,  307,  309,  310 
Deheubarth,  107,  144,  145,  156,  162, 

164,  168,  169,  170-172,  175,  185, 

188,  189,  190,  252,  272,  275,  280, 

285,  287,  304,  335 
Deira,  97 
Demetae,  40 
Demetia,  50,  81,  145 
Demetrius,  210 
'  Denber's  Pasture,'  19 
Denbigh,  354,  355  ;  battle  of,  403 
Denbigh  Castle,  404 
Denbighshire,  397 
De  Nugis,  293,  294,  295 
Deorham,  battle  of,  77,  80,  86 
Dermpt,  king  of  Leinster,  281 
Description  of  Wales  of  Giraldus  Cam- 

brensis,  299 
D£si,  12,  70,  71,  77  n. 
Despenser,  Constance,  Lady,  384 
Deuddwr,  200 
Deugleddyv,  318 
De     Wallensibus    ad   Parliamentum, 

397 

Diarmiad  mac  Mael-na-mbo,  248 
Didius  Gallus,  52 
Dies  amoris,  131 
Dimetian  Code,  103,  129,  157 
Dinas  Bran  Castle,  341 
Dineirth  Castle,  261,  272,  306 
Dinevor,  or  Dynevor,  Castle,  305, 31 1, 

335.  382 

Dinweileir  Castle,  265,  278,  279 
Diodorus  Siculus,  on  the  Druids,  29, 

31,  113  ;  on  Gallic  bards,  no 
Dion,  on  Boadicea,  53 
Diserth  Castle,  339 
Diviciacos,  39 
Divixtus,  xxv 
Dolaucothy,  56  n. 
Dolmens,  412 
Don,  Children  of,  13  ». 
Don    Quixote,    and    the    Arthurian 

legends,  202 
Dooms,  Saxon,  Alfred's,  and  Aethel- 

stan's,  159 
Dover,  68,  90 
Dower,  ancient  Welsh  law  of,  125, 

126 

Dragendorff,  Hans,  63 
Druids,  13,  25,  26,  27-35,  36,  37,  40, 

113-114;  and  the  bards,  no,  in 

439 


HISTORY    OF   WALES 


Dryslwyn  Castle,  354 

Dubnovellaunus,  50,  418 

Dubrae,  68 

Dyfed,  or  Dyved,  12,  40,  92,  93,  145, 
149,  156,  161,  162,  163,  166,  167, 
171,  183,  190,  191,  193,  194,  198, 
259,  262,  264,  279,  313,  315 

DySryn  Clwyd,  252,  309  n.,  345 

Dyfnwal  Moelmud,  84 

Dyganwy — see  Deganwy 

Dynevor,  344.     See  also  Dinevor 


EADBERT  of  Northumbria,  143 

Eadmund,  159,  160,  420 

Eadric  of  Mercia,  182 

Eadwine  of  Deira,  97,  151 

Eadwine,  son  of  Howel  Dha,  160 

Ealdgyth,  173 

Eanfrith,  97 

Eblieu,  215 

Edeyrnyon,  or  Edeyrnion,  251,  275 

Edgar  the  Peaceful,  161,  162,  420 

Edis  the  Great,  163 

Ednowain  ap  Bradwen,  385 

Ednyfed  ap  Aaren,  385 

Education  in  Wales  in  the  period  of 

the  Renaissance,  399 
Edward    I,     xxviii,     xxxii,     xxxiii, 

xxxiv,   233,   303,    304,   341,   352, 

357 
Edward  II,  xxxni,  357,  358 

Edward  III,  359 

Edward  IV,  391,  395 

Edward,  Prince,  334,   335,  338-339, 

34° 

Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  xxxiv 
Edward  the  Confessor,  169 
Edward  the  Elder,  156 
Edwardian  Conquest,  341  et  seq. 
Edwin  ap  Einion,  163,  164 
Edwin  ap  Hywel  Dda,  158 
Edwin  of  Mercia,  182 
Egbert  of  Wessex,  148,  149 
Egypt,  association  of  early  Britons 

with,  5,  14,  17,  23-25,  31-32 
Eifyonydd,  247,  252,  256 
Einion  of  Arvon,  246 
Einion  ap  Cediver,  190 
Einion  ap  Owain,  162,  164 
Einion,  house  of,  188,  190 
Eisteddfod    at    Aberteifi,     284 ;     of 

Caerwys,  400 
Elaine,  216-217 
Eleanor,  Queen,  xxxii 
Eleanor,      wife      of      Idywelyn      ap 

Gruffydd,  343-344,  346,  348 

440 


Elen,  217 

Elidge  the  Courteous,  95 

Elise  ap  Madog,  305 

Elise  ap  Tewdwr,  154 

Elisedd  ap  Anarawd,  159 

Eliseg,  xxvi,  71,  84 

'  Eliseg's  Pillar,'  xxvi,  71 

Ellesmere,     castle    and    manor    of, 

306 

Ellis,  Sir  John,  384 
Elucidation,  213 
Elvael,  264,  313,  344 
Elystan  Glodrydd,  144  n. 
Emlyn,  xxxi,  315 
Emlyn  Castle,  314 
Enamelling,  art  of,  in  early  Wales, 

xxiv,  121 
England,  Wales  merged  in,  304,  391- 

408 

Eochaid,  12 
Eppilus,  50,  419 
Erbury,  W.,  405 
Eryri,  41, 187,  248,  256,  301,  308,  345, 

377 

Esperandieu,  M.,  xxv 
Essex,  Henry  of,  270 
Essyllt,  206 

Esyllht  vz  Conan,  146,  147,  148 
Etain,  205,  206,  207 
Ethandune,  154 

Evan  ap  Dafydd  ap  Gruffydd,  377 
Evans,  Dr.,  20,  21 
Evans,  H.  T.,  395,  398 
Evans,   Sir    John,    415,    416,    418, 

419 

Evilieu,  215 
Evrawc,  215 

Ewias  Harold  Castle,  181 
Eyton,  R.  W.,  233  n. 


FAIRFAX,  Sir  Thomas,  402 

Farnmail,  77 

Fat  Hugh  of  Chester  —  see  Chester, 

Hugh  of 

Fethan-lea,  battle  of,  76,  77,  78 
Feudalism,  beginnings  of,  88 
Fflur,  xxx 
Ffrith,  56  n. 
Fire,  ancient  Welsh  law  relating  to, 


Fishguard,  151 
Fitz  Aed,  William,  265 
Fitz  Alan,  William,  273 
Fitz  Baldwin,  Richard,  194 
Fitz  Count,  Brian,  260  n. 
Fitz  Gerald,  William,  267 


INDEX 


Fitz  Gilbert,  Gilbert,  264 

Pitz  Gilbert,   Richard,  260  «.,   262, 

272 

Fitz  Hamon,  Robert,  190 
Fitz  Herbert,  Peter,  306 
Fitz  Hugh,  Robert,  181 
Fitz  Martin,  Robert,  262 
Fitz  Ore,  William,  262 
Fitz  Osbern,  Roger,  183 
Fitz     Osbern,    William,     181,     182, 

183 

Fitz  Raulf,  Hugh,  264 
Fitz  Richard,  Gilbert,  199 
Fitz  Stephen,  Robert,  271,  276 
Flegetanis,  213,  214 
Flemings,  284,  317,  374 
Flemish  Castle,  56  n. 
Flint  Castle,  xxviii,  345,  346 
Flintshire,  351  n. 
Flood,  Mr.  Solly,  384  n. 
Florence  of  Worcester,  162  n.,  256 
Foods,  ancient  Welsh,  117-118 
Ford,  56  n. 

Fosterage,  Welsh  custom  of,  105  n. 
France,     Owain     Glyndwr     obtains 

allies  from,  383-384,  385,  386 
Frankton,    Stephen,   slayer   of   Uy- 

welyn  ap  Gruffudd,  348 
Freeman,  E.  A.,  xxx,  xxxi,  242 
Fruit-culture  in  early  Britain,  117 


GAEI,S,  4,  12 

Gaer,  56 

Gaimar,  213 

Galahad,  Sir,  216 

Galanas,  102-103,  135 

Galath,  217 

Galfridus,  89 

Gam,  David,  378 

Gariannonum,  68 

Garthgrugyn,  331 

Gastineau,  H.,  xxix 

Gawaine,  212,  215 

Gellan,  or  Crellan,  253 

Gelli  Castle,  312,  316 

Gellygaer,  56 

Gemacon  Castle,  264 

Geoffrey  ap  Arthur — see  Geoffrey  of 

Monmouth 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth   xxx,  84,  90, 

91,  202,  2O8,  212,  290-293,  294 

Geoffrey,  Prior,  300 

Geraint  the  Blwe  Bard,  112 

Gerald    of     Pembroke,      191,     195, 

196 
Gerald  of  Windsor,  296 


Gerald  the  Steward,  262 

Gerard,  Charles,  403 

Germanus,  75 

Geweorcs,  227 

Gildas,  41,  71,  72,  73,  76,  84,  85,  90 
and  n,,  92,  93-94 

Gillys,  or  Gillyz,  moneyer,  417 

Giraldus  Cambrensis,  xxxi,  59  n. , 
73  n.,  74  n.,  go  n.,  91,  114,  116,  118, 
132  «.,  136,  137,  213,  224.  227,  237, 
259,  269  n.,  270,  282,  290,  291-292, 
293  «.,  294,  296-302  ;  on  Wales 
and  the  Welsh,  301-302,  318,  328 
408,  421,  424-425 

Glamorgan,    144   n.,   249,   336,    354, 

376,  385,  387,  404 
Glannauc,  97 
Glanvill,  Ranulph  de,  300 
Glasfryn  Uchaf,  Lake  of,  13  ». 
Glastonbury,  89 

Gloucester,  77,  283,  323,  330,  372 
Gloucester,  Earl  of,  323 
Gloucester,  Gilbert,  Earl  of,  341,  343, 

346,  354 

Gloucester,  Miles  of,  262 
Gloucester,  Robert,  Earl  of,  230 
Gloucester,  William,  Earl  of,  290 
Glyndyvrdwy  (Glyndwr),  369 
Glywysing,  154 
Godfrey    (or    Geoffrey)    ap    Arthur, 

Abbot  of  Abingdon,  293 
Godfrey  Haroldson,  163,  166-167 
Godiva,  the  Lady,  172 
Godwine,  Earl,  172 
Goidels,  4,  11-13,  21,  33,  36-37,  40, 

71,  81,  82  and  n.,  83 
Goliards,  295 
Golias,  296 

Good  wick,  battle  of,  188 
Gorsedds,  412 
Gower,  or  Gwyr,  145,  162,  194,  259, 

285,  317,  364 
Gower,  Bishop,  xxx 
Gower,  Sir  John,  364 
Gowland,  Professor,  20,  21 
Grail,  legends  of  the,  202,  210  n.,  213, 

218 

Grasholm,  151 
Gratian,  49,  65,  68,  69 
Gray.  John  de,  334 
Greindre,  Sir  John,  384 
Grey,  John  de,  358 
Grey,  lord,  of  Ruthin,  370,  371,  373, 

375 

Grey,  Reginald,  347 
Grey,  Reginald  de,  357 
Grotius  (van  Groot),  219 

441 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


Gruffudd  ap  Llywelyn,  309  n.,  320, 

327.  330-332,  333 
Gruff ydd  ap  Cynan,  xxx,  123,  186- 

187,    188,    189  n.,    192,   200,   211, 

245-258,  259-260 
Gruff  ydd    ap     Cynan,    Hanes,    188, 

245  n. 
Gruff  ydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn,  317,  330, 

331,  335.  336,  339,  34°.  342,  343, 

344 
Gruffydd  ap  Llywelyn,  139,  167,  168- 

179,  183,  245  ;  value  of  his  work  to 

Wales,  175-178 
Gruffydd  ap  Madog,  336,  341 
Gruffydd  ap  Maredudd,  189,  190  nn. 
Gruffydd    ap    Rhydderch,  170,  171, 

172 
Gruffydd   ap   Rhys,   257,   259,    260, 

261,  262,  271,  274,  288-289,  304, 

313 

Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  Sir,  358 
Gruffydd  ap  Seisyll,  283 
Gruffydd  Hiraelliog,  364 
Gruffydd  Llwyd,  363,  375,  390 
Gruffydd  of  Glyndyvrdwy,  370 
Gruffydd,  Richard,  394 
Gruffydd  Vychan,  370 
Grythor,  Rhys,  424 
Guala,  papal  legate,  318 
Guest,    I<ady    Charlotte,    xxix,    47, 

210  ».,  215 
Guinevere,  217 
Guotepir,  92 
Guthfred,  158 
Guthrie,  King,  252 
Gwaet  Erw,  247 
Gwalchmei,  208,  209,  215,  285 
Gwales,  151 

Gwallter  ap  Einion  Clud,  313 
Gweharis,  250 
Gwely,  101-102,  103 
Gwenevere,  206,   207,  208,  214, 

215 

Gwenllian,  260 
Gwenllian  vz  Llywelyn,  348 
Gwent,   144  n.,  145,  149.  154.   155. 

157.    159.    l62,     J72'     I79,     182, 

249 

Gwent  Uch  Coed,  249 
Gwentian  Brut,  144  n. 
Gwentian  Code,  157,  160 
Gwenwynwyn  of  Powys,  285,   287- 

289,  304,  305,  306,  307,  3°8,  3°9, 

310,  312,  315,  317 
Gwerthrynion,  335 
Gweryd,  95 
Gwgawn  ap  Meurig,  194 

442 


Gwgon,  149 

Gwladus,  Princess,  283 

Gwladus,  wife  of  Reginald  de  Breose, 

312 
Gwladys,   wife  of   Ralph  Mortimer, 

39i 

Gwrgeneu  ap  Seisyll,  187,  247,  248 

Gwriad,  147 

Gwrtheyrn,  King,  70,  77  n. 

Gwydion,  209 

Gwyn  ab  Nudd,  215 

Gwynedd,  xxx,  41,  80,  81,  82,  83,  85, 
94.  95,  96,  107,  145,  149,  153,  156, 
161,  162,  164,  168,  183,  185,  187, 
188,  191,  245,  246,  252,  256,  257, 
258,  259,  260,  261,  263,  265,  273, 
274,  275,  284,  285,  304,  305,  308, 

3°9,  331 

Gwynioneth,  manor  of,  369 
Gwynllwg,  155 
Gwyr — see  Gower 
Gwys  Castle,  265,  272,  318.     See  also 

Wiston 


HADRIAN,  Emperor,  xxv  ;  in  Britain, 

64  ;  sestertius  of,  419 
Hadrian  I,  Pope,  143 
Hael,  Ivor,  362 
Hallelujah  Battle,  75-76 
Hamitic  race,  5  ;   language,  26 
Hanard,  Jankyn,  letter  of,  382 
Hangest,  Aubert  de,  385,  386 
Hankford,  Chief  Justice,  388 
Hanmer,  John,  383 
Hanmer,  Margaret,  371 
Hanmer,  Sir  David,  371 
Harlech,  357 
Harlech  Castle,  xxxiv,  384,  387,  389, 

394,  404 
Harley,    Robert,   [Earl    of    Oxford, 

392 
Harold   Godwinson,    171,    172,    174, 

175.  179,  185 
Harold  Hardrada,  174 
Harp,  the,  in,  421-422 
Harris,  Howel,  407 
Hatfield  Chase,  battle  of,  97 
Haverfield,  Professor,  55,  62 
Haverfordwest  (Haverford),  317,  318, 

336,  385-  397.  402,  403 
Havering,  John  de,  357 
Hawarden,  340 
Hawarden  Castle,  346 
Hay  (town),  56  n.,  294 
Hay  Castle,  312  n. 
Heathery  Burn  cave,  n 


INDEX 


Hecataeus  of  Abdera,  7  «. 

Heckethorn,  361 

Hen  Castle,  313 

Henfrey,  H.  W.,  xxxiv 

Hengist,  72,  75 

Hengist  and  Horsa,  69  n.,  72 

Hengwrt,  xxix,  210  n. 

Henry  I,  192-193,  195,  196,  198- 
199,  200,  228,  259  ;  invades  Wales, 
256  ;  second  invasion,  257 

Henry  II,  228  n.,  254  ;  conflict  of, 
with  Wales,  268-276,  280-283  ; 
death  of,  285  ;  and  Walter  Map, 
293,  296  ;  and  Giraldus  Cambren- 
sis,  298,  408 

Henry  III,  303,  342  ;  and  Llywelyn 
the  Great,  316-324  ;  and  David 
ap  Llywelyn,  33°-333  ;  and  Lly- 
welyn  ap  Gruffudd,  336-338 

Henry  IV,  350,  359;  and  Owain 
Glyndwr,  371,  373-376,  379-381, 

383,  385-388 
Henry  V,  303,  388 
Henry  VII,  391,  393~395 
Henry  VIII,  396,  397 
Henry  of  Brecknock,  283 
Henry  of  Essex,  270 
Henry  of  Hereford,  224,  283 
Henry  of  Huntingdon,  291 
Henry  of  Lancaster,  370,  371 
Henry  of  Monmouth,  374,  376,  381, 

384,  388 

Henry,  son  of  Henry  I  and  Nest   of 

Pembroke,  271 
Herbert,  A.  H.,  26 
Herbert,  Colonel,  403 
Herbert,  Lord,  402 
Herbert  of  Chirbury,  352 
Herbert,  Sir  William,  394 
Herbert,  the  house  of,  306 
Hereford,    battle    at,    172-173  ;     in 

Norman    hands,     181  ;      and    the 

Statutum    de    anno   secitndo,    372  ; 

English  army  assembled  at,  376  ; 

mintage  at,  417 
Hereford  Castle,  182 
Hereford,  Henry  of,  224,  283 
Hereford,   Roger,   Earl  of,   268-269, 

270,  272 
Herefordshire,      formerly      part      of 

Wales,    144  ;     ravaged   by   Owain 

Glyndwr,  375 

Hestinsgarth,  megaliths  at,  5,  19 
Hingamund,  155 
Hinks,  Mr.,  16 
Hissarlik,  xxiii 
Hisioria  Brittonum,  76  «. 


Historia  Regum  Britanniae,   291- 

292 

Historic  of  Cambria,  350 
Hoare,   Sir   R.    C.,    xxviii,    204  «., 

425 

Hodgkin,  Dr.,  41,  79,  83  «.,  145 
Hoke  Day,  18,  114 
Holes,  or  Huls,  Hugh,  388 
Holinshed,  376,  385 
Holmes,  T.  Rice,  7  «.,   8  n.,  9,   n, 

16 

Holyhead,  166 
Holywell  Castle,  307 
Honorius  III,  Pope,  321 
'  Honour,'  political  division,  107 
Hope,  56,  345 

Hope,  W.  H.  St.  John,  227  n. 
Horm,  151 
Hotspur,  377-381 
House,  the  early  Welsh,  118-119 
Howel  ap  Cadell,  156 
Howel  ap  Cadwalader,  310 
Howel  ap    Edwin,    168,    169,     170, 

185 

Howel  ap  Goronwy,  194-195 
Howel  ap  Gruffydd,  305,  308 
Howel  ap  leuaf  (Howel  Ddrwg),  161, 

167 

Howel  ap  Madog,  341 
Howel  ap  Maredudd,  259,  261 
Howel  ap  Owain  Gwynedd,  265,  266, 

267,  279 

Howel  ap  Owain  of  Deheubarth,  188 
Howel  ap  Rhodri,  144,  145,  146 
Howel  Castle,  267 
Howel  Ddrwg  (Howel  ap  leuaf),  161, 

167 
Howel  Dha,  25,  54,  95,  104-105,  111- 

112,  115,  116,  118,  119,  120,  123, 

142,  156-161,  186,  188,  417 
Howel,    king    of  the    West  Welsh, 

158 

Howel  of  Caerleon,  283 
Howel  of  Glywysing,  154 
Howel  Sais  (Howel  ap  Rhys),   281 

282,  286 

Howel  Sele  of  Nannau,  375 
Howel  Ystoryn,  363 
'  Hubert's  Folly,'  322 
Hudd,  Mr.  A.  E.,  xxv 
Hugh  of  Chester — see  Chester,  Hugh 

of 

Hugh  of  Shrewsbury,  251,  254,  255 
Hugh  the  Fat — see  Chester,  Hugh  of 
Hugueville,  Aubert  de,  385 
Huls,  or  Holes,  Hugh,  388 
Humphry's  Castle,  263,  272 

443 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


Huntingdon,  Henry  of,  291 
Husband  and  wife  in  ancient  Wales, 

125-128 
Hyfaidd,  154 


IAGO,  96 

lago  ap  Idwal  ap  Meurig,  245 

lago  ap  Idwal  Voel,  159,  160,  161,  162 

lago,  great-grandson  of  Idwal  Voel, 

168,  169 
lal — see  Yale 
Iblis,  215 
Iceni,  52 
Ide,  94 

Idwal  ap  Meurig,  245 
Idwal  leuaf,  159,  160,  161,  162 
Idwal  Voel,  156,  157,  158,  159,  160 
lestyn  ap  Gwrgant,  xxxiv,  168 
lestyn  of  Morgannwg,  190 
Inclosure  Acts,  and  Wales,  407 
Indarba  mna  nDisi,  12 
Ingram,  Dr.,  417 
Inheritance,  Welsh  law  as  to,  101— 

105 

Innocent  III,  Pope,  300,  310,  317 
lolo  Goch,  363,  364,  369,  424 
lolo  MSS.,  112 

lorwerth,  Abbot  of  Talley  Abbey,  300 
lorwerth  ap  Bleddyn,  180,  186,  191, 

192,   193-194,   196-197,   198,   199, 

200 
lorwerth   ap   Maredudd    (the    Red), 

271,  273,  274,  275,  277 
lorwerth  ap  Owain,  283 
Ireland,  early  incursions  into  Wales 

from,  12,  13  «.,  70,  77  n.,  82  n.  ; 

and  early  Welsh  legends,   13  n.  ; 

Scots    invade    Wales    from,    71  ; 

slave-traffic    in,     130  ;      Cadwgan 

and   Owain   flee  to,  197  ;    Madog 

and  Owain  in,  199  ;    Gruff ydd  ap 

Cynan  in,  245-246,  248,  252,  255 
Irish,  Henry  III  enlists  aid  of,  against 

the  Welsh,  332 
Irish  mercenaries  in  Wales,  254-255, 

402,  404 

Isca  Silurum,  52,  62 
Iscoed,  249 

Iseult,  Isolde,  or  Essyllt,  206-207 
Ithel  ap  Gruff  ydd,  185 
Ithel  ap  Rhiryd,  198 
Ithel  Ddu,  363 
Itinerary    of    Giraldus    Carnbrensis, 

299,  301 

Ivor  Hael  of  Maesaleg,  362 
Ivor,  son  of  Alan,  142,  143 

444 


JANE  vz  Owain  Glyndwr,  375 

Jeanne  of  Flanders,  213 

Jenkins,  Judge,  404 

Jews,  the,  and  the  Arthurian  legends, 

202 
Joan,  wife  of  Llywelyn  the   Great, 

306,  308,  310,  321,  323,  325-327. 

329 

John,  King,  299,  305-316 
John  of  Monmouth,  331 
John,  Prince,  298 
Johnson,  Mr.,  34 
Jones,  Colonel  Michael,  404 
Jones,  David,  -g-gyiii 
Jones,  Edward,  421,  422,  423,  424 
Jones,  Griffith,  407 
Jones,  Mr.  Arthur,  245  ». 
Jones,  Professor  Morris,  5 
Jones,  Sir  David  Brynmor,  351 
Jones,  W.  Basil,  xxx 
Joyce,  Dr.,  29,  30 
Julius  Caesar,  4,  33,  39,  44,  47,  48, 

49,  4*5 

Julius  Frontinus,  53 
Jurisdictions  in  early  Wales,  131 


KARQUIT,  William,  297 

Kay,  Sir,  215,  216 

Kemeys,  Sir  Nicholas,  404 

Keredigion — see  Ceredigion 

Kerry,  342 

Kidwelly — see  Cydweli 

Kilhwch  and  Olwen,    107,    203, 

207 

King,  Professor,  xxii 
'  King's  Great  Sessions,'  397 
Kinship  in  the  Cymric  tribe,  106 
Kiot,  213 

Koenen,  Konstantin,  63 
Kronos,  210 


LACY,  Henry,  355 

Lacy,  Roger  de,  253 

Lacy,  Walter  de,  248 

Lambert,  Bishop  of  Menevia,  157 

Lancaster,  Edmund  of,  355 

Lancaster,  Henry  of,  370,  371 

Lancelot,  romance,  215 

Lancelot,  207  and  n.,  213,  214-217 

Land  cultivation  under  the  Cymry, 

115-116 

Land,  mode  of  inheritance  of,  351 
Land-tenure    in    Wales,    62,    86-88, 

101-105,  180,  365-366 
Landau,  Dr.  L-,  202 


INDEX 


Land-maer,  116 

gangland,  Wm.,  131 

Langley,  Geoffrey,  334 

Langton,  Stephen,  300,  301 

Language,  Welsh,  syntactical  re- 
semblance of,  to  Egyptian,  5,  26  ; 
effect  of  the  Puritan  spirit  upon, 
392,  406 

Lanval,  213 

Lanzelet,  213 

Laporterie,  M.  de,  xxi 

Laugharne,  R.,  401,  402,  403,  404, 

4°5 

Laugharne  Castle,  314 

Law,  Welsh,  possible  connexion  with 
Roman,  103-105  ;  modified  by 
English,  123  ;  proportion  of  adjec- 
tive and  substantive  law  in  early 
Welsh,  130-131  ;  Welsh  legal  and 
judicial  system  merged  in  that  of 
England,  303  ;  English  supersedes 
Welsh,  under  the  Statute  of 
Rhuddlan,  351  ;  after  the  Act  of 
Union  of  1535,  397 

Laws  and  customs,  122,  123-138 

Layamon,  212 

Lechlawar,  282 

Lee,  Bishop  Rowland,  392,  396 

Legends,  early  Welsh,  supposed  Irish 
origin  of,  13  n.  See  also  Arthurian 
legends 

Leges  Barbarorum,  159 

Leia,  Peter  de,  286,  298 

Leintwardine,  51  «. 

Leniannae,  68 

Leo  VI,  Pope,  157 

Leofgar,  Bishop,  173 

Leofric  of  Mercia,  172 

Leominster,  battle  at,  171  ;  and  the 
Statutum  de  anno  secundo,  372 

Leprosy,  in  early  Britain,  127 

L'Estrange,   house  of,   of   Knockin, 

37i 

Lewis,  H.,  86  «. 
Lezouz  potteries,  xxv,  xxvi,  64 
Lhuyd,  Edward,  xxvi,  xxxiv 
Lincoln,  53 
Lincoln,  Earl  of,  347 
Lindisfarne,  95 
Literature,       romantic,        201-220 ; 

Welsh,  Irish  influence  upon,  211  ; 

Norman,     influenced     by     Welsh, 

211  ;    Welsh,  from  1450  to  1750, 

399-400 
Little  Cenarch  Castle  (probably  Cil- 

gerran),  195 
Llanbadarn,  199,  261 


Llanbadarn  Fawr,  xxvii,  xxxi,  16 

192,  362 
Llanbedr,  387 
Llancarfan,  166 
Llandaff,  156,  376 
Llanddewi  Brevi,  363 
Llandegai,  404 
Llandeilo  Fawr,  346 
Llandinam,  274 
Llandovery,  56,  272,  344 
Llandovery  Castle,     279,     346.     See 

also  Llanymddyvri  Castle 
Llandudoch,  166 
Llandydoch,  battle  of,  190 
Llanfihangel  Castle,  261 
Llangadwaladr,  96,  99,  n. 
Llangelyniu,  385 
Llan  Geneu  Castle,  336 
Llangynwyd  Castle,  336 
Llanidloes  Castle,  403 
Llanilltud,  166 
Llanio,  56 

Llannhadein  Castle,  285,  286 
Llanrhystud  Castle,  266,  267,  272 
Llanrillied,  115 
Llanrwst,  battle  of,  161 
Llanrwst  Church,  xxxii 
Llanstephen  Castle,   263,   278,   285, 

314 

Llanvaches,  405 
Llanvaes,  325 
Llanvaes  Convent,  373 
Llanymddyvri  Castle,  305,  311.     See 

also  Llandovery  Castle 
Llechryd,  364 
Lieu,  209 

Llewelyn  ap  Cediver,  190 
Lleyn,  108,  166,  246,  247,  248,  252, 

256.  3°5.  327.  345 
Lloegria,  50 
Lloyd,    Major-General    Sir    Francis, 

xxxiv 
Lloyd,  Professor,  94,  98  n.,  158,  166. 

168  n.,  175,  189  «.,  264  n.,  266,  319, 

320  n.,  321,  324,  328  n.,  332  n., 

336  n. 
Lludd,  210 

Llwyd,  Edward  (lolo  Goch),  364 
Llwyd,      Edward,      of     Llanvorda, 

xxxiv 

Llwyd,  Humphrey,  xxviii,  xxxiv 
Llwyd,  Morgan,  401,  405 
Llwyn  Dafydd,  261 
Llwyn  Pina,  271,  273 
Llychwr,  or  Loughor,  Castle,  313 
Llyr,  204  n. 
Llywarch,  199 

445 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


Llywarch  Hen,  78,  147 

Llywelyn  ap  Gruff  udd,  xxviii,  304, 
333-349,  350.  353  '.  rise  to  power, 
334  ;  risings  under,  335  ;  becomes 
'  Prince  of  Wales,'  336-337,  339, 
340  ;  allied  with  de  Montfort,  339- 
340  ;  makes  peace  with  Henry  III 
(Treaty  of  Montgomery),  340 ; 
refuses  homage  to  Edward  I,  343  ; 
conflict  with  Edward,  and  sub- 
mission (Treaty  of  Conway),  345  ; 
marries  Eleanor  de  Montfort,  346  ; 
joins  the  rising  of  1282,  346 ; 
death,  348 

I/lywelyn  ap  lorwerth  (the  Great), 
xxviii,  xxxi,  xxxii,  85,  156,  285, 
287,  303-328,  329,  340,  391  ; 
influence  upon  the  history  of 
Wales,  303-304 ;  rise  to  power, 
304-305  ;  relations  with  King 
John,  305-307 ;  marries  Joan, 
John's  daughter,  305  ;  John's 
expeditions  against,  308  ;  submits 
to  John,  308-309 ;  leads  a  new 
rising,  309-310  ;  in  the  rebellion 
of  1215,  312  ;  leader  of  the  Welsh, 
314 ;  Gwenwynwyn's  defection, 
315  ;  excommunicated,  317  ;  makes 
peace  with  and  does  homage  to 
Henry  III,  317  ;  favoured  by  the 
English  court,  319 ;  the  Earl 
Marshal  and,  320 ;  new  conflict 
with  Henry  III,  322  ;  in  the  out- 
break of  1231,  323-324  ;  joins  with 
Earl  Richard  of  Pembroke,  324  ; 
debt  of,  to  his  wife  Joan,  325- 
326  ;  last  years,  325-327  ;  death, 

327 

Llywelyn  ap  Seisyll,  164-167,  168 

Llywelyn  Bran,  357-358 

Llywelyn  of  Glyndyvrdwy,  370 

Lockyer,  Sir  Norman,  and  megalithic 
remains,  5,  16,  17,  18,  19,  21,  31 

L'CEuvre  Castle,  183 

Lollard  movement,  and  Wales,  367, 
372 

London,  53  ;  and  Henry  II 's  Welsh 
campaign,  274  ;  David  ap  Llywelyn 
cited  to,  331  ;  Welsh  assist  the 
Earl  of  Gloucester  in  his  march 
upon,  341  ;  early  Welsh  books 
printed  at,  400 

Loughor  (Llychwr),  56  n. 

Loughor  Castle,  313 

Loyer,  155 

Ludlow,  231,  320,  372,  379,  380, 
393,  395 

446 


Ludlow  Castle,  231-233,  424 
Lukis,  W.  C.,  1 8 
Luxmoore,  house  of,  406  n. 

MABEL  A  v  ap  Llywarch,  363 
Mabinogi  of  Math,  5,  13  n. 
Mabinogion,    xxix,     201,     203,     204 

and  n.,  210 
Mabinogion,  Lady  Charlotte  Guest's, 

xxix,  47,  210  n.,  215 
Mabon,  215 
Mabudryd  Castle,  272 
MacAirt,  Cormac,  12 
Machynlleth,  378,  394 
Macpherson,  J.,  141 
Madog  ap  Bleddyn,  186,  189,  191 
Madog  ap  Gruffydd  Maelor,  308,  309, 

312 

Madog  ap  Idnerth,  261 
Madog  ap  Llywelyn,  354-356 
Madog  ap  Madog,  341 
Madog  ap  Maelgwn,  310 
Madog    ap    Maredudd,    xxxiv,    263, 

266,  267,  271,  273,  274,  275 
Madog   ap    Rhiryd,    180,    186,    191, 

196-200 
Maeldav,  86 

Maeldomen,  moneyer,  417 
Maelgwn  ap  Maelgwn  ap  Rhys,  323, 

331,  333 

Maelgwn  ap  Rhys,  xxxi,  284-285, 
286,  288,  304,  305,  306,  307,  308, 
309,  310.  3",  S",  313,  314,  319 

Maelgwn  (Mailcun)  Gwynedd  (Mael- 
gwn Hir),  xxvii.  84-86,  93,  95 

Maelgwn  Vychan,  354 

Maelienydd,  264,  331,  337,  338 

Maenclochog,  313 

Maer,  108 

Maes  Hyvaidd  Castle,  312,  316 

Maesydog,  battle  of,  143 

Maglocu,  xxiv 

Magna  Carta,  313 

Magnus  Barefoot,  255 

Magnus,  or  Maccus,  Haroldson, 
166 

Magnus,  son  of    Harold    Hardrada, 

174 

Maiden  Castle,  1 1  n. 
Maiden-fee,  124-125 
Mailcun — see  Maelgwn  Gwynedd,  95 
Maine,  Sir  Henry,  351  n. 
Maitland,  Professor,  160  n. 
Malbanc,  William,  181 
Malltraeth,  108 
Malory,  90,  217 


INDEX 


Man,  Isle  of,  147,  163,  252 

Manaw,  147 

Man£-er-H'oeck,  25 

Manessier,  213 

Manorbier,  296,  300,  301 

Manu,  Laws  of,  27 

Map,  Walter,  go,  169  ».,  170,  173  n., 

290,  293-296 

March,  Edward,  Earl  of,  375,  377 
March,  Roger,  Earl  of,  364 
Marcher  jurisdictions,  352,  392,  393, 

395 

Marcher  lords,  351-353,  372,  387,  395 
Maredudd    ap    Bleddyn,    186,    192, 

193,  200,  254,  256 
Maredudd  ap  Cynan,  331 
Maredudd  ap  Edwin  ap  Einion,  168, 

170 
Maredudd  ap  Gruffydd  ap  I4ywelyn, 

185 
Maredudd  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  265, 

272,  279 

Maredudd  ap  Howel,  263,  342 
Maredudd  ap  Owain,  great-grandson 

of  the  I<ord  Rhys,  333,  335,  341 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  Glyndwr,  389 
Maredudd  ap  Owain  of  Deheubarth, 

182,  185,  187,  188 
Maredudd    ap    Owain  of    Gwynedd 

and  Deheubarth,  160,  162-163,  *64 
Maredudd  ap  Rhys  ap  Gruff udd,  286 
Maredudd  ap  Rhys  Gryc,  333,  335, 

337,  340,  341 
Maredudd  ap  Robert  Cydevain,  308, 

3°9 

Mareys,  Hugh  le,  359 
Margaret  vz  Idywelyn,  313 
Margaret,  wife  of  David  ap  I<ly welyn, 

323  «• 

Marie  de  France,  212,  213 
Mark,  King,  206-207 
Market  law,  54 
Marriage  law  and  customs,  103-104, 

125-128 
Marshal,    the    Earl    William,    318, 

320 
Marshal,     the     Earl     William,     the 

younger,  xxxi,  320,  321,  323,  324 
Maskelyne,  Dr.,  21 
Math,  209 

Mathraval  Castle,  309,  310 
Matilda,  Queen,  264 
Maumbery  Rings,  19 
Maurice,  Norman  leader,  260 
Mawr,  cantref,  315 
Mawr,  Ty,  xxiii 
Maxen  Wledig,  68-69 


Maximian,  British  coins  of,  416,  419 

Maximus,  65,  68-69,  71,  416 

May  year  cult,  1 7 

Mechain,  battle  of,  185 

Meddilus,  xxvi 

Medicine  and  mediciners,  119-120 

Medrant,  91 

Medrod,  or  Modred,  207,  208,  209 

Megalithic  culture  in  Britain,  con- 
nexion of,  with  Egyptian  culture, 
23-26 

Megalithic  people,  12,  14,  26 

Meilyr  ap  Rhiwallon,  249,  250 

Meirion  the  Red,  251 

Meirionydd  (later  Merioneth),  82, 107, 
108,  247,  248,  266,  301,  305,  331, 

335,  357.  397 
Melwas,  206,  207 
Men-an-tol,  19 
Mendip  megaliths,  19 
Menevia,  115,  163,  191,  331 
Men  of  Harlech,  394 
Mercia,  81,  143,  144,  150,  152,   153, 

154,  155,  182 
Mercians,  wars  of,  with  the  Cymry, 

143,    144  and  n.,    149,   153,    155  ; 

Welsh  allied  with,  182,  185 
Merddin — see  Merlin 
Mere,  Richard  de  la,  261 
Merfyn  ap  Rhodri,  153,  156 
Merfyn  Frych,  146-148,  149 
Merion,  82,  108 
Merioneth — see  Meirionydd 
Merionethshire,  82,  351  n. 
Merlin,    or    Merddin,  209-210,   280, 

282,  291 
Merwydd,  246 
Metalwork  in  early  Britain,  10,  38, 

42-43 

Methodist  revival  m  Wales,  407 
Meurig  ap  Idwal  Voel,  163 
Meurig  Barach,  310 
Meurig  of  Gwent,  154 
Meyer,  Professor  Kuno,  12,  13 
Mider,  205-206,  207 
Miles  of  Gloucester,  262 
Milford  Haven,  385 
Mills,  J.  Travis,  98 
Modred,  or  Medrod,  207,  208,  209 
Mold,  330,  332 
Mold  Castle,  265,  266 
Mold,  Robert  of,  265 
Molesdale,  268 
Mon,  or  Mona,  31,  40,  82,  107,  145, 

151,  153.  163,  184,  246,  248,  255, 

308.     See  also  Anglesey 
Monmouth,  xxx 

447 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


Monmouth  Castle,  181,  182,  403 
Monmouth,  Henry  of,  376,  381,  384, 

388 

Monmouth,  John  of,  331 
Monmouthshire,  397 
Monte,  William  de,  299 
Montelius,  Professor,  16,  21 
Montford,  331 
Montfort,  Amaury  de,  344 
Montfort,  Eleanor  de,  343-344,  346, 

348 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  338,  339,  340 
Montgomery,  Arnulph  de,  227 
Montgomery,  battle  of,  403 
Montgomery  Castle,  xxxii,  183,  253, 

320,  321-322 
Montgomery,  Roger  de,  xxxii,   181, 

183,  227 
Montgomery,    Treaty   of,    340,    342, 

343 

Montgomeryshire,  397 
Montreuil,  Gerbert  de,  213 
Morcant,  or  Morgan,  76,  95 
Morcar  of  Northumbria,  182 
Mordav,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  157 
Morgan  ab  Owain  of  Morgannwg,  158 
Morgan  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  260 
Morgan  ap  Howel,  332 
Morgan  ap  Owain,  260 
Morgan,  Bishop,  392,  400 
Morgan,  John,  of  Newburgh,  422 
Morgan,  M.  O.,  26 
Morgan,  rebel  leader,  354 
Morgan  the  Aged,  112 
Morgannwg,  145,  157,  159,  162 
Morgatrud  of  Demetia,  146 
Morgeneu,  160 
Morien,  201  n. 
Morpeth,  97 

Morris,  Rev.  Meredith,  399 
Morte  d' Arthur,  89 
Mortimer,  Edward,  Earl  of  March, 

375,  377,  381,  384 
Mortimer,  family  of,  xxxii,  319 
Mortimer,  Hugh,  of  Wigmore,  264, 

269 

Mortimer,  Mr.  J.  R.,  412,  414 
Mortimer,  Ralph,  181 
Mortimer,  Roger  (i),  286 
Mortimer,  Roger  (2),  331,  335,   337, 

338,  339,  344.  348 
Mortimer,  Roger,  first  Earl  of  March, 

364 
Mortimer,    Roger,    fourth    Earl    of 

March,  370 
Mortimer,    Sir    Edmund,    375,    376, 

377.  38°.  389 
448 


Mortimer's  Cross,  battle  of,  394 

Mortuo  Mari,  Roger  de,  357 

Morvan,  abbot  of  Whitland,  266 

Morvydd,  xxix,  362 

Mostyn,  house  of,  401 

Mostyn,  Sir  Roger,  402 

Motte,  the,  xxix,  226-228 

Murfyn,  xxxiv 

Murkertagh,  King,  199 

Mur  y  Castell,  253,  256 

Music,  Welsh,  425 

Musical    instruments,    Welsh,    421- 

426 
Myddleton,  Sir  Thomas,  xxxii,  392, 

402,  403 

Myles,  or  Meules,  Nicholas  de,  333 
Mynydd  Cam,  battle  of,  189,  250 
Mynydd  y  Pwll  Melyn,  battle  of,  385 
Mynyn,  166 

NABOPOI.ASSAR,  xxii 

Nabu-Pal-Iddina,  xxii 

Nant  Carno,  battle  of,  161 

Narberth,  313 

Narberth  Castle,  314,  317 

Nativi,  109 

Neagh,  Lough,  13  n. 

Neath,  56  n. 

Neilson,  George,  227  n. 

Nelson,  E.  M.,  5,  18,  19,  20 

Nennius,  76  and  n.,   82  ».,   go,   91, 

204,  205,  212,  416 
Neolithic  man,  2-4,  6-9,  15,  22 
Nest,  princess  of  Powys,  148 
Nest  vz  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr,  195-196, 

197,  271,  296 
Nevern  Castle,  286,  314 
Newcastle  Emlyn,  403 
New  Grange,  xxiii,  22-23,  409 
Newport    (Trevdraeth)    Castle,    314, 

323.  336 

Newport,  Sir  William,  384 

Newtown,  394 

Nicholson,  E.  W.  B.,  39  n.,  92  and  n., 
147,  148 

Nonconformist  movement,  Welsh, 
405-407 

Norman  castles,  the,  221-244 

Norman  Conquest,  contrasted  with 
Anglo-Saxon  invasion,  75 

Normans,  beginning  of  Welsh  con- 
flict with,  171  ;  conquest  of  Wales 
by,  xxviii,  180-184  '•  an(l  South 
Wales,  189,  190-191  ;  wars  with, 
190-192,  259  et  seq.  ;  hostility 
between  Welsh  and,  subdued,  344 

Norsemen,  148,  150-152 


INDEX 


North  Wales,  153,  155,  175,  238  n., 

277.  355  «•,  365,  373.  403,  4°4.  4°8 
North  Welsh  race,  154-155 
Northumberland,  Earl  of,  387 
Northumberland,  Robert  of,  253 
Northumbria,  97 
Nudd,  or  I,ludd,  210 
Nutt,  A.,  204,  210,  211 

OCTOBONTJS,  or  Ottobon,  papal  legate, 

340.  34i 

Offa,  80,  143,  144,  145 
Offa's  Dike,  xxvii,  144  and  n.,  145 
Ogham  writing,  xxiv,  35 
Ogof  Owain,  385 
Olaf,  King  of  Dublin,  245 
Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  367 
Oman,  Professor,  225,  228 
Ordinacio  Stapularum,  359 
Ordovices,  40,  41,  53,  54 
Orewyn  Bridge,  348 
Orleton,  or  Aureton,  Castle,  226,  227 
Osric,  97 
Ossian,  141 

Ostorius  Scapula,  50,  51 
Oswald,  97 

Oswald's  Cross,  battle  of,  97 
Oswestry,    183,   274,   275,   316,   324, 

355,  381,  403 
Oswestry  Castle,  266,  273 
Othona,  68 
Ovates,  in 
Owain,  217-218 
Owain  ap  Cadwgan,   180,   186,   191, 

195-200,  256,  296 
Owain  ap  Gruffudd  (the  Red),  333, 

334 
Owain  ap  Gruff ydd  ap  Cynan,  258, 

261,  263 
Owain  ap  Gruff  ydd  ap  Gwenwynwyn, 

342 
Owain  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys,  289,  307, 

309,  3".  312,  3J4>  315.  3i6 
Owain  ap  Howel,  115,  160-161,  162 
Owain  ap  Maredudd  of  Elvael,  337 
Owain  Brogyntyn,  274 
Owain  Cyfeiliog,  260,  274,  275,  277, 

287 

Owain  Glyndwr  (Owain  ap  Gruffudd), 
xxxiii,  35°.  352,  363,  364,  368,  369- 
39°»  391'  393'  4°8  '•  ifl  the  Scottish 
campaign  of  Richard  II,  370,  371  ; 
his  English  sympathies,  371  ;  takes 
up  arms  against  England,  373  ; 
his  confederacy  with  Percy 
and  Mortimer,  377-381  ;  at  the 
height  of  his  career,  and  crowned 


Prince  of  Wales,  378 ;  and  the 
battle  of  Shrewsbury,  379-381  ; 
ravages  South  Wales,  381  ;  ob- 
tains French  allies,  383 ;  de- 
cline in  his  fortunes,  384-385  ; 
a  fugitive,  385  ;  gets  new  help 
from  France,  385,  386  ;  deserted 
by  a  section  of  the  Welsh,  387, 
388  ;  his  effective  resistance  at  an 
end,  388  ;  death,  389 

Owain  Goch,  342,  345 

Owain  Gwynedd,  123,  257,  259-277, 
278,  280,  281 

Owain,  king  of  Gwent,  158 

Owain  o'f  France,  391 

Owain  Pencarwn,  284 

Owain  Vychan,  274,  277 

Owen,  Aneurin,  132 

Owen,  Dr.  Henry,  293,  296  «.,  297, 
300 

Owen,  Goronwy,  399 

Owen,  Hugh,  405 

Owen,  James,  405,  406 

Owen,  Sir  John,  of  Clenenau,  401, 
402,  404 

Oxford,  Provisions  of,  338 

Oxford,  the  I^ord  Rhys  at,  286 

Oxford  University,  Owain  Glyndwr 
at,  369 

Oystermouth  (Ystrum  Uwynarth 
Castle,  313 

PAIN  of  Chaworth,  344 

Pain's  Castle,  286,  288,  313,  340 

Palaeolithic  man,  i 

Pandulph,  papal  legate,  318 

Pantulf,  William,  181,  192 

Papinian,  in  Britain,  65 

Paris,  Matthew,  333 

Parisii,  39 

Parliament,  Welsh  representation  in, 

397-  398 

Parry,  Bishop,  400 

Parsifal,  or  Perceval,  213,  216,  218 

Parth  Lludd,  210 

Pascent,  77  n.,  84 

Payne-Gallwey,  Sir  R.,  239  n. 

Peasantry,  Welsh,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  365-368 

Peckham,  John,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 347 

Pederton,  Walter  de,  357 

'  Pelagian  heresy,'  75,  78 

Pembroke,  194,  195,  227,  317,  394. 
402,  405 

Pembroke  Castle,  191,  193,  195,  227, 

253.  254 
2F  449 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


Pembroke,  Gilbert,  Earl  of,  330,  331 

Pembroke,  Richard,  Earl  of,  324-325 

Pen  Cadeir,  or  Pencader,  170,  408 

Pencarn,  Ford  of,  280 

Pencelli  Castle,  312 

Penda,  97,  98 

Pendragon,  or  Bendragon,  Uthr,  208 

Penfro,  285 

Pengwern  Castle,  267.     See  also 

Shrewsbury  Castle 
Penllyn  Castle,  305 
Penmon,  166 
Penmon  Church,  xxx 
Pennal,  56 
Pennant,   T.,  xxvil,  xxx,  xxxii,  374, 

385 

Pennocrucion,  39 
Pentecost  Castle,  226,  227 
Penwedig,  307 
Penwedig  Castle,  267 
Penydarren,  56 
Penygaer,  56  n. 
Perceval — see  Parsifal 
Percy,  Sir  Henry  (Hotspur),  377-381 
Peredur,  214,  215,  216-218 
Perlesvaus,  213 
Petit,  J.I/.,  xxxi 
Peverel  of  the  Peak,  267 
Picton  Castle,  403 
Picts,  4,  70,  83,  143 
Pipton,  conference  at,  339 
Phnlimmon,  Mount,  374 
Ploughing,  ancient  Welsh  mode  of, 

116 
Poets   of   Wales   in   the   fourteenth 

century,  361-364 
Pole,  Griffin  de  la,  357 
Policronicon,  89 
Pomponius  Mela,  on  the  Gallic  Druids, 

28 

Pontrufydd  Hall,  56  n. 
Pool  Castle,  287,  335  n.,  342.     See 

also  Trallwng  Castle    and    Castel 

Coch 

Portgerefa,  54 
Porthclais,  249 
Forth  Honddu,  252 
Port  Nevin,  252 
Portskewet,  179 
Portus  Adurni,  68 
Pottery,    Roman,    found   in    Wales, 

xxv-xxvi,  63-64  ;  Celtic,  44 
Powel,  David,  190,  271,  353  and  n., 

354.  401.  404.  4<>5 
Powell,  Vavasour,  405 
Powys,  39,  70,  81,  82,  83,  96,  107, 

145,  148,  149,  153,  159,  161,  183, 

450 


185,  188,  191-200,  249,  250,  251, 
253,  266,  268,  273-274,  275,  280, 

285,  3°7.  309,  3i5»  33i.  335.  357. 
358 

Poyer,  J.,  402,  404,  405 

Prasutagus,  52 

Prestatyn  Castle,  277 

Presteigne,  396 

Price,  house  of,  401 

Price,  Sir  John,  403 

Prichard,  Vicar,  400,  401 

Priestholm,  97,  151 

Prince  of  Wales,  Edward,  seventh, 
xxxv-xxxvi ;  the  first  English, 
xxxv ;  I/lywelyn  II  claims  to  be, 
3°4.  337  '•  Llvwelyn  the  Great  not, 
de  jure,  325  n.  ;  I/lywelyn  ap 
Gruffudd  as,  336-337,  339,  340  ; 
Owain  Glyndwr  proclaims  himself, 
373  ;  Owain  Glyndwr  crowned  as, 
378 

Princes,  period  of  the,  139-167 

Printing,  early,  in  Wales,  399-400 

Procopius,  on  Scotland,  46 

Prosper  Tiro,  68 

Pumpsaint,  56  n. 

Pwll  Dyfach,  battle  of,  170 

Pwll  Gwdyg,  battle  of,  187 

Pwyll,  208 

Pyle,  56  n. 

Pyramid,  the  Great,  19 

QUATBRIDGE,  155 

Quest  of  Lancelot,  The,  295 

RADNOR,  286 

Radnor  Castle,  312  n.,  374 

Radnorshire,  397 

Raglan  Castle,  394,  401,  404 

Ragnaillt,  245 

Ralph,  Earl,  171,  173 

Randulf ,  Earl — see  Ranulf  of  Chester 

Ranulf    of    Chester    (i)    (Hugh    fitz 

Raulf,  Earl  Randulf),  xxx,  264,  265 

267,  268 

Ranulf  of  Chester  (2),  319 
Recorde,  Richard,  399  n. 
Red  Book  of  Hergest,  5,  47,  210  n. 
Red  Castle,    324.     See    also    Castel 

Coch 

Reginald,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  279 
Regulbium,  68 
Rein  the  Scot,  164-165 
Religion  in  Wales,  399,  400-401 
Renaissance,  the,    and  Wales,   392, 

398-400 
Rhaiadr  Gwy  Castle,  284 


INDEX 


Rhiryd,  186,189,  191 

Rhiwallon,  182,  185 

Rhiwiau,  xxv 

Rhodri  ap  Gruffudd,  342 

Rhodri  ap  Howel,  100 

Rhodri  ap  Owain,  284 

Rhodri    Mawr,    143,    148-150,    151, 

152,  153,  167 

Rhodri  Molwynog,  143,  144,  145,  146 
Rhos,   183,   184,  252,  256,  262,  285, 

309  n.,  317,  318,  336 
'  Rhoscomyl,  Owen,'  373,  379,  380 
Rhuddlan,  174,  175,  269,  271,  280, 

345,  346,  347-  420 
Rhuddlan    Castle,    xxviii,    181,    183, 

186,  247,  277,  280,  309,  310,  346 
Rhuddlan,  Robert  of,  183-184,  246, 

248 
Rhuddlan,  Statute  of,  104,  123,  350- 

352,  356,  365 
Rhun,  or  Run,  95,  96 
Rhun  ap  Owain,  265 
Rhuvoniog,  or  Rhufoniog,  145,  183, 

309  «.,  345 
Rhyd  y  Gors  Castle,  191,  194,  253, 

254 

Rhyd  y  Groes,  battle  at,  169 

Rhydderch,  95,  119  n. 

Rhydderch  ap  lestyn,  164 

Rhyddgaer,  56  n. 

Rhymney:  182 

Rhys  ap  Gruffydd  (i2th  cent.),  160 

Rhys  ap  Gruffydd  (i4th  cent.),  358 

Rhys  ap  Gruffydd  ap  Rhys  (the  I^ord 
Rhys),  xxx,  272-273,  274,  275, 
276,  277,  278-287,  298  ;  and  the 
Welsh  laws,  123  ;  resists  Henry  II, 
272  ;  joins  in  the  struggle  of  1165, 
275-276,  280  ;  rise  to  power,  278- 
279,  281  ;  conflicts  with  Henry  II, 
and  submission,  279-280 ;  com- 
pact with  Henry,  281  ;  helps 
Henry  in  England  and  in  France, 
282  ;  his  Eisteddfod  at  Aberteifi, 
284 ;  his  power  declines,  286 ; 
death,  286 

Rhys  ap  Howel,  264 

Rhys  ap  Maelgwn,  310 

Rhys  ap  Maredudd,  353~354 

Rhys  ap  Owain,  186,  187-188 

Rhys  Appowel,  358 

Rhvs  ap  Rhys.  286 

Rhys  ap  Rhys  ap  Gruffydd,  289,  307, 
309,  311,  312,  313,  314,  315.  316, 

317 
Rhys  ap  Tewdwr,  188-190,  191,  211, 

249,  250 


Rhys    ap    Thomas,    sides    with    the 

Tudors,  394 

Rhys  ap  Thomas,  Sir,  xxxiii,  388 
Rhys  Ddu,  387 
Rhys  Gryc,~3o8,  309,  310,  311,  312, 

313.314,315,317 
Rhys  Grythor,  424 
Rhys  Mechyll,  313 
Rhys  of  Deheubarth,  267 
Rhys,  Sir  John,  xxiv,  xxvi,  5,  6,  12, 

17,    30  and  n.,  40,  70,  77  nn.,  83, 

124,    203,  205,  207,  208,  209,  214, 

216,  217,  218 

Rhys   Vychan,  335,  336,  342,  345 
Ricnard,  Bishop  of  Baugor,  341 
Richard  I,  285,  286,  299 
Richard    II,     370,    371,    373,    394, 

395 

Richard  of  Clare,  281 
'  Richard's  Castle '    (Aureton,   Orle- 

ton),  226,  227 
Richborough,  61 

Richmond,  Edmund,  Earl  of,  394 
Rivaux,  Peter  de,  325 
Roads,  Roman,  in  Wales,  62-63 
Robert,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  308 
Robert  fltz  Stephen,  xxx 
Robert  of  Belleme,  192,  193 
Robert  of  Mold,  265 
Robert  of  Northumberland,  253 
Robert  of  Rhuddlan,  xxviii,  183-184, 

246,  248 

Robert  of  Sai,  181,  197 
Roches,  Peter  des,  324,  325 
Roderick     the     Great — see     Rhodri 

Mawr 

Rcessler  de  Graville,  C.,  xxi 
Roger  of  Wendover,  69  n.,  140 
Rolleston,  T.  W.,  45  n. 
Roman  forts  in  Britain,  56-58 
Roman   occupation  of   Britain,   48— 

66  ;  occupation  of  Wales,  55-56 
Romances,     the     Welsh,     201-220. 

See  Arthurian  legends 
Roses,  Wars  of  the,  the  Welsh  in,  391, 

393 

Rossyr,  108 

Round,  J.  IL.xxix,  226  ;-.,227,  233*1. 
Rowlands  of  i,langcitho,  407 
Run,  or  Rhun,  95 
Rupert,  Prince,  403 
Ruthin,  373,  375 
Ruthin  Castle,  404 
Rutupiae,  68 


SAER,  Norman,  194,  195 
St.  Albans,  50,  53 


451 


HISTORY    OF    WALES 


St.  Asaph,  297,  298 

St.  dear's,  or  St.  Clare,  Castle,  285, 

314 
St.  David's,  xxx,  154,  189,  297,  298, 

299-300 

St.  Pagan's,  battle  of,  404 
Saint-Michel,  Mont,  22 
Saintsbury,  Professor,  294 
Sales,  129 

Salesbury,  William,  392,  400,  402 
Salisbury,  gemot  of ,  87 
Samian  ware,  found  in  Britain,  xxv, 

xxvi,  63 

Sampson,  Archbishop  of,  xxvii 
Sandef,  251 
Saraad,  no,  135 
Sarn  Helen,  62 
Saxons,    68-80,    119,  146,  148,  152, 

161  ;  everyday  life  among,  117 
Schliemann,  Dr.,  xxiii 
Scots  (Scotti),  4, 71, 82  andn.,  164-165 
Scotti — see  Scots 
Scudamore,  Philip,  387 
Seebohm,  86,  104,  118 
Segontium,  xxiii 
Seigneurial  jurisdictions,  222  n.,  352, 

392,  393.  395 
Seinhenydd    (Sein    Henydd)    Castle, 

313,  316  n. 
Seiont,  xxxiii 

Seisyll  ap  Dyfnwal,  224,  283 
Seisyll  ap  Eudaf,  225 
Seisyllwg,  149,  156 
Semitic  affinities  of  early  Britons,  5, 

6,  36,  40 

Seneca,  and  the  Britons,  52 
Senghenydd,  313,  316  n. 
Septimius  Severus,  in  Britain,  64-65 
Sergi,  Professor,  14 
Shakespeare,    and    Owain    Glyndwr, 

369-37°.    37° ;     and    mutilations 

practised  by  Welshwomen,  376 
Shrewsbury,  181,  182,  183,  192,  253, 

275.  3°6,  310.  312,  319,  321,  330. 

342,  348,  359,  372,  376,  394,  395. 

400,  402,  403  ;   battle  of,  379-381 
Shrewsbury   Castle,    183,    192,    253, 

312.     See  also  Pengwern  Castle 
Shrewsbury,  Hugh  of,  251,  254,  255 
Shrewsbury,  Treaty  of,  340  «. 
Shropshire,  formerly  part  of  Wales, 

144 

Silures,  40,  50,  51,  52,  53 
Sion  Eos,  422 
Sippar,  temple  at,  xxii,  19 
Sitruic  of  the  Silken  Beard,  245 
Skeel,  Miss,  393,  395 

452 


Skenfrith,  312  n. 

Slavery    in    Wales,    109,    116;     in 

Ireland,  130 

Snowdon,  256,  347,  350,  351 
Snowdonia,  347,  355  n. 
Social  constitution  of  Welsh  tribes, 

108-110 

Solstitial  cult,  1 7 
Somerset,  John,  Earl  of,  374 
South  Wales,  153,  187,  189,  190,  237, 

271-272,  276,  283,  314,  319,  321, 

323,  324,  373,  375,  379,  380,  381, 

384,  402,  403,  404,  407-408 
Stanley,  Sir  William,  395 
Stanton  Drew,  megaliths  at,  19 
Statuta    Wallie    (Statutum    Walliae), 

351,  352 

Statute  of  Gloucester,  396 
Statute  of  Labourers,  360 
Statute  of  Rhuddlan,  104,  123,  350- 

352 
Statute  Staple,  benefits  of,  extended 

to  Wales,  359 

Statutum  de  anno  secundo,  372 
Stephen,  King,  260,  262,  264  ;  Wales 

neglected  by,  268 
Stephen,  Sir  J.  F.,  352 
Stephens,  H.  M.,  139 
Stone  Age,  1-8,  411 
Stonehenge,  5,  7  n.,  15,   16,  17,   19, 

20-21,  32 
Strabo,  on  the  Druids,  29,  31,  113  ; 

on  the  stature  of  the  Britons,  42  n. ; 

on  the  Welsh  bards,  no 
Strange,  Lord,  355 
Strata  Florida  Abbey  (Ystrad  Fflur), 

xxx,  140,  287,  327,  330,  341,  374 
Strathclyde,  72,  76,  80,  81,  82,  84, 

90,  94,  97,  143,  147 
Succession,   law  of,  in   early  Wales, 

105  and  n. 
Suessiones,  39 
Suetonius,  52,  53,  113 
Sulien,  Bishop,  250 
'  Sunday,  the  battle  on  the,'  152 
Sunday-school  movement  in  Wales, 

406 

Sun-worship,  21,  22,  203,  210 
Superstition  and  magic,  119-120 
Sureties,  131-134 
Swansea,  151,  310 
Swansea     Castle,     316.       See     also 

Seinhenydd 

Sweyn,  Danish  leader,  163 
Sweyn,  Earl,  170,  171 
Sycharth,  xxxiii,  364,  369,  370,  381, 

389 


INDEX 


Taeogau,  109,  119,  127,  128,  134 

Talargan,  143 

Talbot,  I/ord,  373 

Talbot,  Sir  Gilbert,  384,  389 

Taliessin,  Book  of,  26,  34 

Talley  Abbey,  287 

Talybont,  313 

Tamblyn,  W.  P.,  31,  33 

Tangwystyl,  246 

Tany,  Luke  de,  347 

Tappan,  E.  M.,  xxx,  xxxvi 

Tasciovanus,  50,  418-419 

Tegeingl,  51,  266,  271,  274,  277, 
309  «. 

Teifi,  xxx,  xxxi,  262 

Tenby,  267,  272,  279,  284,  385,  402 

Terebra,  xxix 

Tewdwr  ap  Elise,  156 

Tewdwr  ap  Elisedd,  158 

Tewdwr,  brother  of  Owain  Gwynedd, 
385 

Tewdwr  of  Anglesey,  247,  248 

Thomas  of  Brittany,  213 

Thompson,  A.  H.,  xxxi 

Thurnam,  Dr.,  414 

Timbs,  J.,  xxxiv 

Tincommius,  50,  416,  418 

Tippetot,  Robert  de,  353,  354 

Togodumnus,  50 

Tomen-y-Mur,  56 

Topography  and  Conquest  of  Ireland 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  298,  301 

Tostig,  174 

Tout,  Professor,  348,  366 

Tower  of  London,  228,  331,  358,  387 

Towyn,  166,  266 

Trading,  rise  of,  357 

Trahaearn  ap  Caradoc,  246,  247,  248, 
249,  250 

Trahaearn  Brydydd  Mawr,  363 

Trahaearn  of  Arwystli,  187,  188 

Trallwng  Castle,  287,  324,  335. 
See  also  Castel  Coch  and  Pool 
Castle 

Trees,  117  n. 

Trefgarn  Owain,  369 

Trefhedyn,  399 

Trevdraeth  Castle,  314,  336.  See 
also  Newport 

Trevor,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  383 

Triads,  the,  31,  84,  98  n.,  in,  206, 
215,  217,  253, 

Tribal  custom,  101-107 ;  constitu- 
tion, 108-110  ;  courts,  222  n. 

Tristram,  206-207 

Troubadours  of  Wales  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  361-364 


Tudor,  Henry,  see  Henry  VII 
Tudor,   Jasper,   Earl  of   Pembroke, 

394 

Tudor,  Owen,  of  Anglesey,  391,  394 
Tudors,  Wales  under,  391-392,  395, 

398 

Twr  Bronwen,  xxxiv 
Twrch  Trwyth,  204 
Ty  Gwyn  ar  Dav,  Y,  112 
Tywi,  Vale  of,  193,  194,  346 

Uchelwyr,  109,  128 
Uchtryd,  265,  291 
Ulrich  von  Zatzickhoven,  207  «.,  213, 

214 
Union,  Act  of  (1535),  392,  393.  396- 

397 

Urban  IV,  Pope,  338 
Uriconium — see  Viroconium 
Urien  ap  Cynfach,  95 
Usk,  56 

VACARIUS,  398 

Valence,  William  of,  346 

Valle  Crucis  Abbey,  71,  341,  389 

Values,  of  chattels,  clothing,  live- 
stock, etc.,  121,  129 

Vaughan,  Sir  Henry,  401 

Veda,  Lossio,  13  n. 

Venables,  William,  382 

Venedotia,  or  Venedote,  97,  99,  186 

Venedotian  Code,  84,  103,  109,  120, 
123,  125,  127,  157 

Venta,  237 

Venus,  worship  of,  in  early  Britain,  5 

Vepont,  or  Vieuxpont,  Robert,  309, 
310 

Veranius,  52 

Verica,  50 

Verulam,  53 

Viroconium,  or  Uriconium,  xxiv- 
xxy,  xxvi,  63.  77-78,  147 

Vortigern,  69-71,  72,  77  n.,  81,  83, 

84,  99 

Vosenos,  418 
Votepori,    Voteporigis,   or   Votecori- 

gis,  92-93 
Vyrnwy,  battle  at,  375 

WAGE,  Robert,  90,  212 

Wales,  Roman  occupation  of.  55-56  ; 
Anglo-Saxon  invasion  and,  67  ; 
delimitation  of.  80 ;  political 
divisions  of,  107-108  ;  Druidism 
in,  113  ;  North  and  South,  153  ; 

453 


HISTORY   OF   WALES 


influence  of  tribal  system  upon 
early  history,  166  ;  Gruffydd  ap 
lylywelyn's  additions  to  the 
territories  of,  175-177  ;  condition 
after  Gruffydd,  1 79  ;  Norman  ad- 
vance in,  180-184  ;  her  claim  to 
independence,  243  ;  William  Rufus 
invades,  253-254 ;  Henry  I  in- 
vades, 256-257  ;  united  against 
Henry  II,  275-276  ;  after  Henry's 
death  and  under  Richard  I,  285  ; 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  on,  301  ;  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  303  ;  in- 
dependence of,  lost,  303,  304  ; 
beginning  of  amalgamation  with 
England,  348-349 ;  annexed  by 
Edward  I,  350  ;  eastern,  divided 
into  counties,  351  ;  risings  under 
Rhys  ap  Maredudd  and  Madog, 
353-356 ;  union  with  England, 
391-408  ;  national  debasement  in 
the  century  before  the  Union,  393  ; 
changes  effected  by  the  Act  of 
Union,  397 ;  representation  in 
Parliament,  397,  398  ;  state  of, 
in  the  period  of  the  Renaissance, 
398-399  ;  and  the  Civil  War, 
401-405  ;  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, 407-408 

Walganus,  208 

WalSngford,  Brian  de  (Brian  fitz 
Count),  260 

Wallingford,  Walter  of,  291 

Walsingham,  Thomas  de,  376 

Walter  ap  Gruffydd,  313 

Walter,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  291 

Walter,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  212 

Walter,  Hubert,  287 

Wander,  Queen,  207 

Wannore,  207 

Warenne,  Earl,  347 

Warin  the  Bald,  181 

Warranty,  126,  129-130 

Warren,  Earl,  370 

Wars  of  the  Roses,  the  Welsh  in,  391, 

393 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  344 
Warwick,  William  Beauchamp,  Earl 

of,  355 

Wat's  Dike,  145 

Wauchier  de  Denain,  213 

Webb,  E.  J-,  1 6 

Wele,  or  gwely,  101,  102,  103 

Welsh  race,  earliest  ancestors  of,  2-4  ; 
effect  of  Anglo-Saxon  invasion 
upon,  67  ;  character  of  the  early, 
137-138  ;  notable  as  bowmen, 

454 


184 ;      Giraldus    Cambrensis    on, 

301-302 

'  Welshman,'  72  n.,  81 
Welshpool,  200,  335,  374,  394 
Wendover,  Roger  of,  69  n.,   140  «., 

202 

Wessex,  150 
Westminster  Abbey,  90 
Westmorland,  Earl  of,  381  n. 
Weston,  Miss  J.  I*.,  201  «.,  202,  212, 

214 

'  West  Welsh,'  155,  158 
White  Castle,  312 
White  House,  112,  119 
'  White  pagans,'  148  n. 
Whitland  Abbey,  287 
Whittaws,  356 
Whittington,  340 
Wich,  265 

Wife,  the,  in  ancient  Wales,  125-128 
Wight,  Isle  of,  73 
Wigmore  Castle,  181 
William,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  290 
William  I,  xxix,  75,  87,  181,  182,  189, 

228 
William    II,    invades    North  Wales, 

253-254 

William  of  Malmesbury,  151,  161 
William  of  Newbury,  291 
William  of  Valence,  346 
Williams  ab  Ithel,  70 
Williams,  Canon,  xxix 
Williams,  Lord  Keeper,  401 
Williams,  Sir  John,  xxix 
Winchester,  90 
Winifred's    (Wenefrede's)    Well,    St., 

xxvii 

Winwaed,  battle  of,  72,  98,  139 
Wiston  Castle,  278.     See  also  Castell 

Gwys 

Wledig,  Cunedda,  41 
Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  213,  214 
Women,  position  of,  and  law  relating 

to,  124-128 
Woodbury  Hill,  386 
Wood-Martin,  W.  G.,  2.5 
Woodstock,    councils   at,    280,    307 ; 

Peace  of,  334 
Woodward,  B.  B.,  xxix 
Wooing  of  Emir,  The,  26 
Worcester,  317,  318,  372,  385 
Worcester,  Florence  of,  162  n.,  256 
Worcester,  Marquis  of,  401,  404 
Wrexham,  402 

Wright,  Thomas,  233  «.,  296  and  n. 
Wroth,  William,  405 
Wroxeter,  56,  63 


INDEX 


Wulfhere,  144 
Wylie,  Mr.,  377  n.,  388 
Wynn,  family  of,  xxxii,  398 
Wynn,  Mr.,  of  Penkescedd,  424 


YAI.E  (lal)  Castle,  266,  271,  273 
Year,  division  of,  17-18,  30  n. 
Ynys  Bronwen,  xxviii,  204  n. 
Ynys  Gynwreid,  ^12  n. 
Yonge,  Griffith,  383 
York,  6 1,  65 
York,  Duke  of,  393 
Yscoed,  manor  of,  369 
Yspyddaden,  207 
Ystoryaeu  Seint  Great,  xxix 


Ystrad  Cyngen  Castle,  267,  279 
Ystrad    Fflur   Abbey— see   Strata 

Florida 
Ystrad  Meurig  Castle,  263,  272,  288, 

306 
Ystrad   Tywi,    145,    149,    171,    186, 

279.  315,  387 
Ystrum    Llwynarth    (Oystermouth) 

Castle,  313 
Ystus  Llwyd,  Y,  363 
Ystwyth,  199 


ZEUS,  and  the  Arthur  conception,  203 
Zimbabwe,  Great,  19 
Zouche,  William  de  la,  234 


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